Ladies Afternoon Out
by can08writer
Summary: Michonne, Carol, Maggie, and Sasha decide to have a Zombie Apocalypse version of a ladies afternoon out to get away from the men and have some female bonding time, but they may have gotten into more than they've bargained for. This story was inspired by the lack of stories with all four of these powerful women in it.
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's note: This story takes place about 3 months after episode 6X10 but Hilltop and the Saviors don't exist. Also, I noticed the sad lack of stories with these four powerhouse women together, so I decided to make one. I would've added Rosita and Tara too but I don't think I could do justice to 6 different characters at once. Enjoy._**

Michonne gave two quick bursts on the horn as she, Carol, and Sasha waited in the car for Maggie. They had been waiting outside Maggie's house for at least 20 minutes, and the trio was getting antsy. The door was open and they knew Maggie knew they were outside, and yet she still hadn't come out.

"I'll get her" Michonne said to the other two women, as she unbuckled her seat belt. "No" Carol said, already opening her door, "I'll do it".

Carol quickly exited the car and walked up to the house Maggie and Glenn shared. "Maggie!" Carol yelled through the screen door. "I'm comin'!" Maggie yelled back to her. Carol could hear shuffling as though Maggie was looking for something. Carol opened the door and curiously peeked inside. Maggie was furiously rushing around her living room shoving objects into a bag.

"Maggie, we're going to be gone literally four hours. What could you possibly be packing?" Carol asked incredulously.

"I get hungry" she said defensively, "I need to bring snacks, plus it doesn't hurt to be prepared with some blankets and other things… just in case".

Carol sighed. Maggie was three months pregnant and in full cravings mode, but this run was her idea. She wanted to go shopping for baby things and insisted that she go along to pick the baby supplies that she wanted. She also suggested on making it a ladies' afternoon out since she barely got to spend time with just the ladies in the family. The other three women readily agreed to go as it was a rare treat to spend some time together without the men, except for Rosita and Tara who were on guard duty.

Carol walked up to Maggie as she shoved a final object into the already full bag. "Ok" Maggie said, moving some hair from her face, "I'm ready to go". Carol gave an amused sigh and picked up Maggie's bag from the couch. "Thanks" Maggie said as the two of them made their way outside.

"About time" Sasha mumbled, and Michonne smirked at the heavy bag Carol was carrying.

Maggie lowered herself into the front seat as Carol shoved the bag into the trunk and got into the back seat behind Michonne.

"Ok ladies, let's go!" Maggie said enthusiastically.

There was an annoyed silence as Michonne pulled out from Maggie's house. Maggie turned around. "What? I wasn't _that_ long!"

She was met with more silence and Sasha rolled her eyes.

"Hey I _am_ pregnant you know!" Maggie said defensively.

Michonne chuckled. "I hope you brought enough snacks to share" she said quietly.

"But of course" Maggie said with a smile.

They got to the front gate of Alexandria where Abraham, Rick, and Glenn were standing. As they pulled up, the men glanced through the car windows.

"Be safe ladies" Rick called, even though his eyes were staring into Michonne's. He leaned into the car and gave her a kiss on the lips. Abraham reached into the car and stroked Sasha's cheek and she grabbed his hand, holding it against her face. Glenn leaned in to kiss Maggie in the front passenger seat. Carol looked on at the lovebirds and sighed, turning to look out the window. Michonne put the car in gear and Glenn called out "be good!". The women all simultaneously yelled "we won't!" and they then burst out laughing at their unplanned jinx.

As they drove, they all got quiet again, lost in their own thoughts. Maggie glanced over at Michonne who was staring straight ahead as she drove, barely blinking, seemingly day dreaming.

"So… you and Rick. How is everything going?" Maggie asked. The mention of Rick seemed to snap Michonne out of her thoughts. "Hmm? Um… oh… yea fine" she stuttered, utterly lost. Maggie chuckled. "It's that good huh?"

"What?" Michonne asked.

"Must be. She's smiled more in the past few weeks than I've seen her smile in all the time I've known her." Sasha chimed in.

Michonne rolled her eyes but she couldn't contain the smile that crept up the corners of her mouth.

"See? There it goes again" Maggie said, and Michonne couldn't hold back her smile any more. She chuckled. "Yea. It's good."

The women all let out laughs and giggles. "Do tell, for the sake of us who don't have a sex life" Carol said with a hint of bitterness. Sasha looked over at Carol with a twinge of sympathy, but Maggie and Michonne didn't seem to notice.

Michonne was hesitant about revealing private information about she and Rick, but she hadn't had anyone to talk to since their relationship began, and she wanted to share one of the best things in her life.

"It's more than good, it's amazing. I've never felt like this, ever. It's like… it's like we're soulmates. Like we're connecting on a whole other level."

"Wow" Sasha said, "I'm really happy for you Michonne."

"Me too" Maggie added, "that's great. It's not weird or anything? I mean, I know you guys were friends first…"

"That's the thing" Michonne said, her eyes flashing with an excitement that the other women had never seen before. "It's that much better because we were friends. We know each other. We trust each other. So it's just… easy."

"Well it's safe to say our girl is in love" Sasha said, patting Michonne's shoulder. "And she's got it bad."

The women all chuckled, genuinely happy for Michonne. "Speaking of love, you would know" Michonne said, looking at Sasha through the rearview window. "How's things with you and Abraham?"

The other women let out an "Ooooooh" as if they were little girls talking about a crush in the school cafeteria.

Sasha let out a coy smile. "We're uh… we're good" she said cryptically as she glanced out of the window. "Oh come on" Carol said, "If tight lipped Michonne spilled her business, you have to too."

"Hey!" Michonne protested, pretending to be insulted.

"She does have a point Michonne" Maggie said with a smile.

Sasha cracked a smile. "He asked me… if I could have a baby… he told me he could… with me."

Everyone's mouth dropped open. "Wow, now that's commitment" Maggie said.

"I know… I was shocked. I… I didn't know what to say. I mean it's too early anyway. We've only been together for a few months. And Rosita… I know she's forgiven everything that happened, but I feel like a baby would be rubbing it in her face."

"Do you want a baby?" Michonne asked.

Sasha paused to think. "I don't know. I want to think I'll be more ready in a few months maybe? But what if I don't have a few months? I mean… life is short right? Maybe now is the best time."

Everyone was quiet as they thought about Sasha's words.

"What about you Michonne? Do you want a baby?" Sasha asked, and her question completely took Michonne by surprise. Michonne's eyes snapped to the back seat. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Michonne has Judith, she already has her hands full" Carol said, trying to let Michonne off the hook.

Michonne seemed to gain her composure, but Maggie noticed her eyes were beginning to sheen over with tears.

"Are you ok Michonne?" Maggie asked, and the other women glanced in her direction.

Michonne had never talked about the child she'd lost to anyone but Carl and eventually Rick. But she felt like this was the perfect time to share her loss with these women that she thought of as her sisters.

"Michonne?" Carol asked, concerned.

"I had a son" she confessed.

The other three women were silent and stared at her in shock.

"He… he died… it was walkers" she continued, and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Oh my God" Maggie whispered, unconsciously holding her own belly.

"Michonne… I'm so sorry" Sasha said, feeling guilty that she had asked the question in the first place. Carol was suddenly silent.

"Yea… it was a while ago… but… I don't know if I want to. I don't know if I can again." Michonne said, quickly wiping her tear away with the back of her hand.

There was another long silence and Michonne, feeling badly that she soured the mood of the trip sniffed "way to ruin the fun Sasha". The other women laughed and Sasha shot back "you started it".

"Ok, we haven't heard from Carol yet!" Maggie said, suddenly excited again as she turned around in her seat. Carol had begun staring out the window after Michonne's revelation, and Maggie knew why. She decided to take the woman's mind off of her own daughter.

"So has anyone in Alexandria caught your eye Carol?" Maggie asked.

Carol glanced over at Maggie and chuckled. "Well… I'm not getting laid if that's what you're asking" she admitted bluntly, causing another round of laughter.

"Well is there anyone you would get with?" Sasha asked, genuinely curious.

Carol's face turned a little red. "Maybe…" she said, a smile spreading across her face.

"Lemme guess…" Maggie said. "Daryl!" all three women said in chorus.

Carol's face flushed a deeper shade of red "how do you know?" she asked, "you don't know me!"

"I think even Judith saw that one coming" Michonne joked.

"Well there's nothing to see, there's nothing happening there, and there's definitely no cumming" Carol said rolling her eyes.

"Why not?" Sasha asked, "He's obviously into you too. You guys are always together."

"He will never make the first move Carol, he almost reminds me of Rick. You gotta help him if you wanna be with him" Michonne suggested.

"Help him?" she asked incredulously.

"Yea, nudge him in the right direction. Make it so he can't refuse and he doesn't have a way to back off or run away from you."

"Lingerie always works" Maggie suggested. Everyone turned and looked at her. "What? It does!"

Michonne snorted and Sasha choked a little.

"That would definitely send him running for the hills" Carol said. "I'll think of something. Something simple."

"Yea. Find him a squirrel, that's the way to a hunter's heart" Sasha mumbled.

"And then skin that squirrel in lingerie" Maggie added, causing the women to laugh hysterically.

"You know, we should do this more often" Sasha said, "this is nice, to get away from the testosterone once and a while. How about we make this a monthly thing. A ladies' afternoon out? Or we can even just hang out in someone's house and kick out the men."

"I'd like that" Michonne added. Carol nodded.

"It has been declared, ladies' afternoon out is now a thing!" Maggie said in an official sounding voice.

The four women traveled to the Babies R Us, laughing and talking the entire time. Truly getting to know each other in a way they hadn't gotten a chance to in a long while.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour and a half later, they were inside the store, mostly grabbing baby items at random. Diapers were all gone, but baby lotion and powder was still available, as was all of the larger items. Michonne and Carol carried the crib to the car as Sasha helped Maggie pick out a car seat and stroller.

After the two women maneuvered the heavy box into the trunk, Carol broke their comfortable silence.

"I know what it's like" she started, looking down at the ground. "To lose your baby. To know that the little one you carried inside of you is no longer…" Carol cut her sentence off and sighed. "I know what it's like to wonder what their last moments were like. If they were scared, if they called out for you and you weren't there… I know the guilt of not being there when your baby needed you. When Sofia died, I didn't see the point in living anymore, but there was something inside of me, that kept me living despite everything. Some stubborn part of me that I still don't understand. It kept living even though half of me had died."

Carol suddenly stopped talking and finally looked up into Michonne's eyes. Michonne had tears streaming down her face and her lower lip was trembling, because Carol had described exactly how she felt. Michonne had heard that Carol had once had a daughter, but no one had really talked about what happened to the girl, and Michonne wasn't sure how the girl died. Seeing the way Carol was looking at her, she was sure the girl had died almost the same way Andre had.

"Sometimes I wonder if the rest of the group has forgotten her. If she even existed. They don't talk about her. I… I don't talk about her. But I think about her all the time. Sometimes…" Carol looked away from Michonne to wipe away a tear. "Sometimes when I'm remembering her, I forget all the details in her face. I don't remember how her eyebrows looked, how her chin looked. It's like she's…"

"disappearing…" Michonne answered with a knowing look. Carol shook her head. "Yea."

"I'm so sorry Michonne" Carol said, tears leaving her own eyes as she looked at the only other person in the group who understood exactly how she felt.

Michonne opened her arms and wrapped them around Carol's shoulders as the two women embraced. "Thank you Carol" Michonne said, "I am too."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

"This one is cute" Maggie said, nodding towards the gray and yellow car seat/ stroller set.

"Yea, especially since you don't know what you're having. Plus, it seems sturdy enough to last for baby number two… or three…" Sasha said.

"Yea. Or… I can let my friend borrow it when she has her own little one" Maggie said, moving her eyebrows up and down at Sasha.

"Well… I guess… if it comes to that." Sasha said noncommittedly.

"Was there anything else you needed?" Michonne asked, coming back into the store from loading the trunk, discreetly wiping her eyes.

"Um… since we're here and there's still some room in the car, maybe we can get some things the baby will need when it's a little older? A potty… um… and some of those stuffed animals?"

"So basically anything this child could possibly need for the next 3 years. Got it." Michonne said with a wink as she disappeared down another aisle.

"Ok, I think this gray and yellow one is my choice" Maggie said, lifting the car seat from its display as Sasha dragged out the stroller's box.

"Boy, Glenn is gonna have a field day putting all this stuff together" Sasha said sarcastically. Maggie laughed.

Carol came in from outside. "Ok we only have space in the trunk for a box or two and everything else might have to be tied to the roof."

"I'm done, I've got everything I need" Maggie said as Michonne stepped out of another aisle balancing a box with a potty, multiple baby books, and a giant stuffed bear.

"Man I'm hungry, I think it's time to dip into the goody bag" Maggie said as the women walked out the front door, "Apples anyone?"

As they walked out of the door into the bright sunshine the women were temporarily blinded, but suddenly they all froze in their tracks. They were completely surrounded by ten men armed with guns and knives.

One of the men stepped forward. "Hi! My name is Noah, and I love apples" he said with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi! My name is Noah, and I _love_ apples" the man said with a smile. He was in his late thirties, and had long dark hair and a goatee.

The four women had their weapons up before he even finished his sentence. Without a word the women made a circle with their backs to each other, facing the 10 men who outnumbered them.

"Woah, woah!" The man said, genuinely surprised the women were pointing guns in his face. "I didn't mean to scare you. We were passing by and we saw the car loaded with boxes and we had to check it out. I didn't know we'd stumble upon such _beautiful_ new friends."

The women continued to stare, each calculating how quickly they could take out the ten men without being shot themselves. When no one spoke up, the man who identified himself as Noah continued.

"Do you have a place around here? A camp?" he asked. Sasha stared the man down and flicked her finger against her rifle's trigger out of nervous habit. Her gun was pointed at his head and Noah could tell she wasn't playing games.

"Guys, put your weapons down" Noah said to the men who were with him. The ten men actually seemed relieved to point their weapons someplace other than at the four women in front of them. When all the weapons were pointed at the ground, the women also relaxed somewhat and pointed their weapons downwards.

"I think we're starting off on the wrong foot." Noah said. "We don't want to hurt you, actually, we want to help you. If you don't have a camp, we'd like to invite you to ours. It's more like a village actually, but it's safe, and there's fairly clean water and food there."

"Thanks, but we don't need help" Maggie said. "We're goin' now".

The other women took the cue and started edging their way towards the car. "Hold on now" Noah said with his hands up, slightly blocking their path to the car, and Michonne quickly pulled her katana.

"Is that a freakin' sword?" Noah asked, obviously impressed. "Wow, where did you ladies _come_ from?"

"Move out of our way" Michonne ordered.

"I told you, we don't want to hurt you. Actually, we're looking for people just like you to join our village. It has to be better than whatever you've got going for you out here." Noah said.

"I told you, we're goin' now" Maggie said again.

"I see you have a crib and a stroller, and you're raiding a Babies R Us. Either you have a camp with some babies, or one of you or more is pregnant. We can provide a stable place for you to raise your baby in safety and comfort."

Michonne took another step forward, leveling her katana at the man. "Move."

The other men picked their weapons up again and aimed at the women.

"Now ladies, I already told you we don't want to hurt you. It doesn't mean we won't if we have to. I'm not one for taking prisoners, but we can't let you go. To be honest, you're too valuable to us. Now I was hoping you'd come of your own accord, but if you don't want to come as guests of your own free will, we're gonna have to _insist_." Noah said, leveling his gun at the arm Michonne was holding her katana with. She quickly noted he didn't aim for her head or any vital organs.

"Please don't make us shoot you" Noah begged, "it would just be bad for everyone."

"Where are you taking us?" Sasha asked.

"To our home. We call it Mount Ararat."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The women were stripped of their visible weapons and escorted to the back of a van where their hands were tied in front of them, they weren't blindfolded, and there was no guard in the back to watch them.

 _'_ _Big mistake'_ thought Carol as she and the other women immediately began working on the ties holding their wrists. Because their hands were tied in front, Carol was able to reach down and pull a knife she had hidden in her shoe, and within a few minutes all four women were free from their bonds.

Maggie, who was sitting closest to the small window by the back door turned around and looked out. "I'd say we can jump from the van, but there are two cars following us, they'd catch us immediately"

"And you're pregnant, you're not jumping." Michonne said firmly.

"So how do you wanna play this?" Sasha asked. "They weren't trying to hurt us, at least not yet. He said they needed us for something."

"Whatever it is, I don't believe it's good if they kidnapped us." Carol said.

"When they open the doors we play it cool, assess how many there are and if it's a good time to act we will. We need to keep our cards hidden. They don't know who they're messing with, and that's our only advantage right now. I think we should all have the same story too." Michonne suggested.

"We should tell them I'm pregnant. It already explains the baby stuff in the car. It happened on the road, we ran into the wrong people. That would explain why we don't want to stay there. We don't have a camp, we just wander around scavenging what we can." Maggie said.

The women nodded. "So… I don't want to be the downer of the group _again_ " Sasha whispered, smirking at Michonne, "but maybe we should retie these ropes so they don't know we _could_ get out if we wanted to?"

Maggie held in a giggle and nodded. Michonne loosely tied Maggie's ropes back on, Sasha tied Michonne's, Carol tied Sasha's, and Sasha then tied Carol's since they had retied the ropes much looser than the men had tied them.

They spent the rest of the ride peeking out the window and looking for landmarks to guide their way back once they escaped this camp called Mount Ararat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The view of chain linked fences alerted the women that they must be at the village. They craned their necks to take in the view from the tiny van window. They could see little homemade wooden huts that were barely being held together, and small cooking fires in front of each of the huts. Maggie tried to count the fires as they drove past but she lost count after 17. It seemed that quite a few people lived here. They could hear many people bustling around as they passed them in the van, and Sasha said "It's going to be hard to sneak out of here."

Eventually the van came to a stop, and the women tried their best to maneuver back into the positions they were in when they were first put into the van. Noah swung the door open and said "We're here ladies, watch your heads as you exit the van" in a happy voice.

One by one they climbed out of the vehicle, taking note of as many things in their surroundings as they could. Michonne counted that they were surrounded by 7 men now, and the odds were more in their favor. Maggie noticed that the townspeople seemed to give them curious looks as they walked by, but men greatly outnumbered women here. Sasha was taking note of the guns the guards were holding, and the townspeople's lack of guns. And Carol, who hadn't spoken to Noah directly yet, took note that the women she did see didn't seem to have been harmed in any way, and they looked as clueless and spoiled as the Alexandrian women seemed when they first arrived there.

"So what do you think so far?" Noah asked them.

"I think you need to let us go" Sasha said.

Noah smiled. "I still haven't won you over yet huh? Wait till you see all the great stuff we have here. We have medicine and crops. You don't have to wander around anymore. You don't have to scavenge…"

"When are you gonna get it? We're not stayin'" Maggie said again firmly.

"You kidnapped us for what? We don't want to stay here! Let us leave!" Sasha demanded.

Michonne and Carol, the two older women, stayed quiet and watched the confrontation.

"I know you must be wondering why I brought you here, but I told you we need you, and we do. Please let me show you what we have here before you make your decision."

"We've already made our decision!" Maggie yelled, "we are not stayin' here. No one cares what you have to show us. Let us go, and we'll call it even."

Noah smiled again, and all of the women wanted to smack the smug smile off his face.

"Ok, I see you ladies are a tough sell, so let's sit down to business". He motioned for them to follow him into one of the shacks. The women all stopped at the door, refusing to go inside.

"C'mon, I don't bite. I haven't hurt you yet have I?" Noah asked.

"We can talk outside" Michonne muttered.

"Please ladies. Give me an opportunity to explain my actions." Noah begged.

The women continued to stand until Carol took the initiative and stepped into the hut first. Noah, seeing at least one of the women was reasonable, nodded as she passed by. Sasha, rolling her eyes, followed. Maggie and Michonne gave each other a glance before they both sauntered inside the shack reluctantly, followed by Noah.

Two of his armed guards waited by the front door, while another two waited outside the door. The shack was made of pieces of wood that had been hammered together haphazardly, and the chinks were filled in with mud and dirt. The floor was dirt and there were no windows, but the inside was dimly lit by candles. There were a couple of chairs on the inside and a small table full of books, maps, and other odds and ends.

"Please, have a seat" Noah said, gesturing to the chairs.

Carol slowly sat, as the other women stood, glaring at Noah. "How 'bout you untie our hands" Sasha suggested.

"Oh, sorry, sorry about that. I just need you to not run away" Noah said. "Can you do that?"

There was a silence for a couple of seconds before Carol said "We won't."

Noah nodded and cut Carol's hands first, followed by the other women. Maggie sat down next to Carol, while Sasha and Michonne stood with arms crossed in front of them.

Noah sat down in a chair and sighed. "Ok, let's get down to the real reason you're here. My community has been up and functioning for two years now. We're self-sustainable, we make or grow everything we use, right here. We built these houses, huts really… but we built them from scratch and we're trying to make them better. We're surviving, almost thriving really. But we need…"

Noah looked slightly uncomfortable when he spoke. "We need women. We need… all of you."

The women couldn't hide their surprise at his words. Michonne's forehead crinkled in a frown. She didn't like where this was going.

"If you look around our town, you can see it's mostly men. The women here are married to those men… most of them were married before everything happened. But there isn't much hope of starting a family when there are no available women. We go out looking, but… let's just say women are very hard to find nowadays, especially women capable of having children. And if we don't have children, this place will never be sustainable. We were hoping, that'd you'd stay. Join us. There are plenty of men here that will treat you like queens. We won't hurt you, but you're too valuable for us to let you go."

"What makes you think we won't hurt you?" Sasha muttered, and Michonne put a hand on her arm.

Carol spoke and the women immediately knew she was playing her harmless housewife role. "Please, we can't stay. I understand you're looking for women, but we're not the type of women you're looking for. If we come across any other women we'll send them your way."

Noah chuckled. "What is so good out there that you're willing to turn away a safe place? You said you don't have a camp, but you're picking up a crib and stroller. Where do you plan on setting up that crib? In that car? I know you're laying your head somewhere at night. You ladies are way too clean and put together to not have a camp. Look, you can bring your people back here too, especially if there are more women there. We're trying to expand and the more the merrier. Or, maybe we can join your people if your camp is bigger. Look, we're not trying to kidnap you, we're just trying to survive. And that baby you were getting supplies for is the key to our future."

"You're not _tryin'_ to kidnap us, you already did. And like I said, we're not staying here. I hope you find women who want to be here, but we don't. Let us go, or you'll have more problems than not finding women to be your baby factories."

"We can't do that" Noah said, getting to his feet. Maggie and Carol immediately jumped up as well.

"Wait" Carol said, putting her hands up. "Can we have a moment to discuss this? Alone. This is a lot of information and the four of us need to talk."

Noah nodded his head. "Yes. Sure, you do that. I'll be just outside."

Noah walked out the door, and the two guards who were standing inside left with him.

Carol put her finger to her lips and pointed to the door to warn the other three that someone was probably listening to what they said. The women nodded.

Michonne kneeled down on the floor and wrote ' _our weapons?'_ in the dirt.

The women shook their heads confirming that none of them had seen where their weapons had been taken.

Carol then said loudly "So what do you think about what he said?"

Carol then wrote in the dirt ' _got a knife. You?'_

"We can't stay here. Maybe we can convince them to let us go." Maggie said, as Sasha wrote ' _knife'_ and Michonne and Maggie also nodded. All four of them were armed with knives.

Sasha erased all of the writing and wrote ' _take Noah hostage?'_

She then said out loud "the shacks do look kind of nice. Better than scavenging."

' _think they'll shoot us?'_ Maggie wrote.

 _'_ _tell them you're pregnant. Then take Noah hostage. Won't shoot you. Valuable.'_ Michonne wrote, as she said "Maybe we can stay for a few days. See how it plays out."

' _Maybe wait till night?_ ' Maggie wrote.

"Fine, but They'd better have a stream or something nearby. I'd like to take a bath" Sasha said, winking.

She then wrote _'that's how we get out the gates'_

"Yea a bath. I think that's just what I need" Maggie chimed in.

Michonne erased the writing and sketched _'I think they'll be thrilled to let us wash'_

Carol and Michonne then loudly agreed.

"Ok, so we'll have a bath and stay for a few days, and see what happens" Carol said, loudly recapping the verbal conversation.

The women rubbed their feet on the ground to erase all signs of the written conversation, and moved to the front door of the hut.

"So?" Noah asked, looking at the women with anticipation.

"We'll stay, just for a few days, but you have to promise if we decide to leave after that time you'll let us go." Carol said.

"Ok deal" Noah said happily.

"And one more condition" Carol added. "You have to let us bathe in a stream."

Noah looked a little confused. "We don't have a stream in our town, we go three times a week to pick up water from the creek a mile away. But I'll let you ladies use my ration of water if it's that important to you."

Carol looked at Noah and smiled sweetly. "We want to bathe at that creek so we can get clean. It's been a really long time. We need this. I'm sorry if it's a little inconvenient, but those are our conditions." She said with an apologetic shrug.

Noah looked at one of his men. "Arrange an escort to take these ladies to the creek. Bring _trustworthy_ men Don" Noah said.

Don nodded and left.

"Thank you" Carol said.

"I know you'll like it here" Noah said. "I'm sorry we started out on the wrong foot but, we'll make it up to you. I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

During the ride to the stream where they were taken to bathe, the women were put into two different trucks. Maggie and Sasha were put into one truck, while Carol and Michonne were put into another. Their hands were retied, but those were the only restraints they were given. The men who were driving didn't seem too concerned about the women trying to escape, and Michonne thought that was the best thing going for them at the moment. These men were greatly underestimating them. Had Michonne been alone she would've jumped from the truck and made a run for it, but that would leave the women in the other car unaware, and they had already agreed on an escape plan.

Michonne glanced over at Carol who was scanning the area like a hawk, obviously trying to map out where this stream was in relation to the camp so that they didn't escape in the wrong direction and end up back at the camp. Since all four women had knives, they knew they could easily escape from the bindings once they got away from the guards, but Michonne was very hesitant about leaving her katana at the camp, and being out in the woods without it. When she was in isolation, her katana was basically her best friend, it had saved her on many occasions, and she'd known it longer than she'd known any of the people who she considered family. In her lowest moments, when she was completely alone and doubting any other human beings existed, she'd even talked to it once or twice.

 _I'll come back for it. And when I do, they'll pay._

The ride was only a few minutes, and soon all four women were being let out of the trucks and their hands were untied. They took notes of the number of guards who were going to the stream's bank with them. Two of the guards stayed by the car, but 7 others were walking them down to the stream. More guards than they had anticipated. Sasha shot Carol a look that seemed to say _now what?_

When the women got to the water they stopped and turned around, glaring at the guards that were waiting around in anticipation.

"Um… can we get a little privacy?" Sasha asked.

"No can do ma'am. We need to make sure none of the dead get to you. Noah's orders." One of them said.

Carol gave a smile and approached the guard. "Hello sir, my name is Carol, we appreciate that you're protecting us. All we ask is that you turn around. You don't have to go anywhere, we just want to… you know… protect our modesty. Surely seven strong men like yourselves, with weapons, can watch for the dead without staring at us while we take a bath."

The man nodded. "Ok Carol. My name is Nigel. I guess that's reasonable." he yelled to the men "turn around and keep your eyes on the woods!"

"Thank you so much Nigel" Carol said, placing her hand lightly on his chest. He looked like he hadn't been touched by a woman in years and a smile quickly spread across his face. "We _really_ appreciate it." she added, and knowing he was watching, as she turned away she sashayed her hips more than normal.

He nodded and glanced at Carol one last time before turning around and facing the forest.

Immediately the women made their way into the frigid water, completely clothed. They tried to move slowly so as not to alarm the guards. The stream was fairly fast moving and she figured if they just floated downstream they could make it further than running on foot. It would also be safer, as they wouldn't come into contact with walkers in the water.

Michonne pointed downstream, and without a word the women dipped themselves into the water and started floating downstream. The men were clueless as they stood watching the woods, but they knew that they'd soon realized it was too quiet and the women were gone. They tried to stay together as they were dragged downstream, but a half mile down the stream the current started to pick up and the water got deeper, pulling them faster. They started to drift in different directions, and it was getting more difficult to stay above water.

"Just a little longer" Carol called as softly as she could and still be heard over the water, "We have to use the stream's speed to get further away."

They floated on for a few more moments, but the stream was now practically a river as it widened out and they encountered large rocks and boulders that they now had to avoid.

"We need to get out!" Maggie yelled. "Now!" she called, pointing up ahead. A little further down the stream were rapids that looked dangerous.

The women frantically started swimming towards the shore as the current pulled them further and further towards the rapids. Maggie made it on to shore first, and she tried to run along the river to keep up with her friends that were speeding towards the rapids. Carol grabbed onto an outreaching tree and almost lost her grip on the branch, but she clung on and slowly pulled herself onto shore. Michonne and Sasha continued on the path downriver as Maggie and Carol both ran to catch up with them. Michonne grabbed on to a rock, but it was covered with moss and she slipped off, inhaling a lungful of sea water. Sasha was almost in the middle of the river where the current was strongest, and she was swimming with all her might, but was barely moving anywhere. Maggie noticed something up ahead that made her stomach drop. In the middle of the river, directly in Sasha's path was a whirlpool. It looked like a few large boulders had lined up with the current in such a way that the current just kept swirling around in one spot, sucking everything that got trapped in the current downwards.

"Sasha! Swim now! Get out!" Maggie screamed, trying to wildly get her attention. Carol could see that Sasha was swimming as hard as she could, there was no way to stop her from getting sucked in.

Michonne who was just reaching shore, turned to see what Maggie was gesturing at and her eyes opened in horror. She screamed "Sasha!" just as Sasha was slammed into a boulder, and then sucked under in the current.

Michonne immediately turned and jumped back in, making her way towards the whirlpool. Sasha hadn't reappeared. As Michonne swam, Carol looked around for anything they could use to pull both women back on shore. She spotted a large branch that was still attached to a tree, and Maggie and Carol both kicked it until it broke off. They then re-entered the water, but were sure to stay away from the current so that they could pull both women out when they resurfaced.

Michone took a deep breath and dove underwater where Sasha had disappeared. She could feel the weight of the water pushing her downward, but once she dove far enough, the current weakened and she could move around freely. She couldn't see anything, but she felt around with her hands, looking for Sasha. Michonne's lungs were starting to burn, the adrenaline and panic were making her short of breath and if she didn't find Sasha in the next few seconds she'd have to go back up to breathe.

Just when she was about to make her way back up she brushed Sasha's hand. Michonne grabbed it in a vise and kicked towards the surface with everything she had. As she got closer to the surface she could feel the current pulling her downward again. She struggled to get her head above water as her body screamed for oxygen. Her lungs were starting to throb now and she knew she was about to breathe in water if she didn't get up quickly. She stuck her hands upwards and felt air, but she couldn't quite get far enough for her head to break the surface. Suddenly she felt something hard smack her hand. She immediately grabbed on, desperate for anything she could use to pull herself upwards. The hard object began dragging her sideways and finally her head breached the surface and she took in a large gasp of air. Once her lungs were satiated, she yanked Sasha upwards beside her, and pulled her head above the water, but to her dismay Sasha didn't gasp or respond at all. As Carol and Maggie pulled Michonne and Sasha to shore, Michonne tried tilting Sasha's head backwards, hoping she'd breathe, but there was no response from her.

Michonne, cradling Sasha's head and gasping for breath, dropped onto the shore in exhaustion, as Maggie and Carol dragged Sasha further out of the water and laid her flat on the dirt. Sasha wasn't breathing or responding. Carol leaned down and pressed her head against Sasha's chest, listening for a heartbeat. She heard one and nodded her head. "She's alive".

Maggie turned Sasha's head to the side, and Carol gave her CPR, pressing down on her chest, hoping to get the water out. She pushed down a couple of times and then leaned down and held Sasha's nose while breathing into her mouth. When there was no response, she began doing compressions again.

"I don't… I don't really know how to do this, so if one of you are trained you need to take over." She said.

"I'll do it" Maggie volunteered, as she switched places with Carol. Michonne who had finally gotten more oxygen, crawled over to the other women, watching in desperation as Sasha wasn't responding. "Please Sasha, come on!" Maggie begged as she pushed down on the woman's chest. Just as Maggie was about to give Sasha another breath, a stream of water shot out of Sasha's mouth and nose. Carol, Maggie, and Michonne pushed Sasha on to her side as she began gasping and throwing up river water.

"It's ok Sasha, it's ok, we got ya" Carol said, rubbing her back as the woman coughed and sputtered the water from her body. When Sasha was finally able to take a few breaths without coughing, she opened her eyes and looked around. "What happened?" she asked in a raspy voice.

"You decided to die on us" Michonne answered, "but we were too stubborn to let you go"

"I… I died?" Sasha asked in disbelief.

"Well, maybe not _died_ " Maggie said _,_ "but you certainly weren't breathing for a while"

Sasha looked around quietly and then sat up with help.

"How are you feeling?" Carol asked.

"I'm cold" Sasha said, and they all noticed she was shaking.

"I know" Michonne said, "that water is freezing. Can you walk?"

"Yea… I think so" Sasha said, and they carefully pulled her to her feet.

"Ok, so now what?" Maggie asked. "Those men will be here any minute."

"We head North" Carol said, "That's the opposite direction from the camp. We'll try to get back to that big church we saw on the way here. Remember when we passed it in the van?". The other women nodded.

They turned and kept walking as quickly as they could. Michonne and Carol were supporting a shaky Sasha, as Maggie ran ahead and cleared the way of any walkers. They had walked for 5 minutes when they heard the loud crunching of boots behind them. Michonne's eyes widened and she nodded with her head that they needed to hurry up. They picked up the pace but the boot sounds seemed to get closer and closer. In front of them they heard the groans and growls of a group of walkers.

Michonne gestured for Maggie to come over and support Sasha, as Carol and Michonne pulled their knives and ran ahead. They spotted five walkers coming towards them. The women quickly dispatched the walkers, and then Michonne gestured with her hands that they cover themselves in the walker guts. Carol didn't know what the plan was, but she trusted Michonne, so they opened a walker and began to rub the rotten contents all over their clothes. When Maggie and Sasha caught up, the two women did the same for them. The crunching was disturbingly loud and the men were close. "Lay down, both of you!" Michonne hissed, and Maggie and Sasha did exactly what they asked. Michonne then dragged the corpses on top of Maggie and Sasha until they were fairly camouflaged in the heap.

"Carol and I will lead the men away. You two stay here. Once the men pass, meet us at that church we saw. We don't have time to argue!" Michonne said, cutting off Maggie's angry protests. "Do you understand?"

Both women nodded, and Carol and Michonne ran off into the woods as fast as they could. Two minutes later the men approached from the opposite direction. Maggie and Sasha immediately played dead, but kept their eyes open enough to see what was going on.

"Look at this. You think those women killed all these dead on their own? With no weapons?" one of them asked.

"If they did, we got some badass women running around here. I think Noah doesn't know what he got into" another said.

"Well, if we ever get them back, I get the black girl with the dreads. I could stare into them eyes all day."

"Hell no, she likes me more anyway, I seen her eyeing me."

"I got dibs on the other black girl. She's hella hot. That's my wifey right there."

"We all know who Nigel wants…"

"Carol" three of them said in unison.

"Shut up!" Nigel said as he crouched down in front of the walker pile, dangerously close to Sasha's hand.

"Hey I call dibs on the brunette, she's the hottest. Me and her, we're gonna repopulate the planet singlehandedly."

"I said shut up" Nigel said again. He took one of the walker's heads in his hands and examined it. "They do have weapons. A knife did this. They were hiding knives all along. They're smart, and they know how to handle themselves. We can't underestimate them again."

He quickly stood and Maggie let out sigh before she could stop herself. Luckily no one heard it.

"Let's go, hurry up. If we don't find them Noah is gonna banish us." Nigel said.

The two women could hear the men walk off in the direction that Michonne and Carol had ran in.

Sasha and Maggie waited three minutes after they couldn't hear footsteps before they pushed the rotting corpses off of themselves, and made their way back towards where they had seen the church.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carol and Michonne sprinted off into the woods. They tried to leave as much of a trail as they could, to keep the men coming in their direction instead of going back towards Maggie and Sasha. They ran for almost 10 minutes straight until they couldn't run anymore. They stopped to catch their breath when another small walker herd that was off in the distance started making their way towards them. Michonne was about to suggest they keep going when Carol pointed to the herd. "Wait, we can use them. You get in that tree, I pretend I'm hurt, and I draw the walkers and the men this way. We're covered in guts, they're not, we let the walkers help us take them out."

Although Michonne was skeptical about that plan and putting Carol in danger, she agreed quickly as she heard the men coming towards them and she knew in order for them to get away they had to get rid of these men quickly.

Michonne quickly scaled the tree and hid on a branch high enough that she wasn't in the men's line of sight, but she would be able to drop down quickly on one of them.

As soon as Michonne was up in the tree, Carol let out a loud scream. The walkers immediately began to hurry towards them, and Michonne could just make out the men making their way towards Carol as well.

"Help! Help me please!" Carol yelled, holding her foot with the shoe that contained the hidden knife. "Oh, my ankle!" she yelled in her most helpless voice.

"This way! I hear them!" one of the men called as they loudly made their way through the forest. Michonne looked and saw the walkers were almost there as well. She stared at Carol and Carol looked upwards quickly, to see Michonne put a finger to her mouth.

 _Don't talk, the walkers are right here._

Carol nodded slightly just as the first man made his way to her.

"Jesus, you women are crazy. You had us chasing you all over the woods. Why are you covered in blood? Where's your friends?" the first man asked. Carol silently stared at him. "Where. Are. Your. Friends?" the man asked again, kneeling down in front of Carol. The other men approached just as the walker herd burst through the trees.

"Crap!" the man kneeling in front of Carol yelled, but he was startled off of his feet and stumbled. A walker fell right into his lap and bit his crotch, ripping at the fabric of his jeans. "Ahhhh!" the man screamed, kicking the walker away, but it took another bite, this time catching him in the stomach and taking a chunk. The man let out another scream as the other men tried to pry the walker off of him, but suddenly there were more, and the other men were fighting for their own lives. The walkers stumbled past Carol as they made their way to the moving, screaming, men who were firing their guns. Michonne saw one of the men try to turn around and run and she dropped out of the tree landing on his back, both of them crashing to the ground. She pulled her knife and drove it through the man's skull before he could turn around.

She rolled off the dead man and looked at Carol who had stood and slit another man's throat. The walkers quickly descended on him, tearing him apart. The women watched as each of the men got torn to pieces by the walkers. When they were satisfied that the 7 men following them were dead, the headed towards the church.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maggie supported Sasha who was still shaky from her near death experience, and freezing from the cold river water. They walked and walked and heard no sounds in the forest, human or otherwise.

"I hope Michonne and Carol are ok" Maggie whispered, just to break the creepy stillness.

"Yea" Sasha managed, and almost tripped over a raised log.

"Do you need a break?" Maggie asked.

"No, I can keep going" Sasha said.

They walked a little more before they came to a road. In the far distance she could make out the steeple of the church they had passed on their way to Mount Ararat. "There it is, we're almost there" Maggie said.

She checked the road for any people or walkers, and didn't see anything. She helped Sasha down the steep embankment, trying not to slide down the gravel that lined both sides of the road. They crossed and were on their way up the embankment on the opposite side, when she heard the tires of a car coming towards them. "Run!" Maggie gasped as she and Sasha tried to scramble upwards as quickly as they could, but their rapid pace caused them to slide back downwards as the gravel came loose. The continued to climb up the bank until Maggie realized it was no use. Two cars were coming towards them and Maggie realized it was the two trucks that had driven them to the stream. "Go Sasha!" Maggie yelled "I'll hold them off!".

"No!" Sasha said. "I'm _not_ leaving you." There was nowhere to run, so the women waited for the cars to stop with their knives at the ready. The two drivers hopped out of the cars and stood, staring at the women.

"Where are the rest of the men?" One asked.

Both women stayed silent. "Where's the other women you were with?". Once again he was met with no answer.

The man who spoke looked back at his partner. "We'll take these two in and come back out to find the others". The second man nodded and they raised their weapons.

"put the knives down, turn around, and put your hands behind your back" one ordered.

Sasha glanced at Maggie, silently asking if she wanted to risk fighting these men or not. Before Maggie could say anything, the man stepped forward and pressed the gun against Maggie's temple.

"You're the pregnant one right? I bet you are. We don't like hurting women, but I will put a bullet right through your head if you don't drop that knife and put your hands behind your back."

Maggie stared the man in his eyes and genuinely wondered if she could cut his throat open before he got a shot off, but for the sake of her unborn child she couldn't risk it. She dropped her knife on the ground and turned around.

Sasha stared the second man down with hatred in her eyes before she did the same. Both women's hands were tied, behind their backs this time, and the truck drove them away back to Mount Ararat.


	4. Chapter 4

Michonne and Carol ran towards the church. They figured Sasha and Maggie had already made it there since they had a head start. Both women were cold from being soaked in river water, exhausted from the run, and covered in blood, but they approached the church cautiously. Michonne reached for her katana before she remembered it wasn't there, causing Michonne to pout and Carol to chuckle quietly.

They snuck to the closed front door and knocked. They waited a few seconds but didn't hear anything.

"Maggie?" Michonne whispered. They knocked again and Carol called "Sasha?". The silence and stillness inside the church was worrisome to both women. Carol slowly reached for the church door and pulled it but it was locked. They maneuvered behind some bushes to peek into a window where they could see a lone walker wandering around. Besides that, it was empty.

"They're not here" Michonne said in a confused voice.

"Do you think they got held up somewhere?" Carol asked Michonne.

"We killed those seven men… unless… the two that were in the cars? You think they could've found them?"

The two women were quiet for a moment. "We have to go back and find them" Carol said.

They turned around and cautiously made their way back towards where they'd left Sasha and Maggie.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maggie and Sasha sat in chairs, facing Noah, as he paced around his hut. Their hands were tied behind them, and both of them stared him down as he tried to get information out of them.

"Where are my men?" he asked again, firmly. "Nine men went out there and two came back. Not to mention, two of _your_ buddies are missing too."

Maggie sighed. "I told you. We don't know what happened to them. We don't know where our friends are either."

"So they just disappeared off the face of the Earth? You don't seem too worried about your girls." Noah said with a hint of annoyance.

"You keep sitting here asking us the same questions over and over" Sasha said. "We don't know anything."

"After you got out of the water, how did you get separated from them?"

"We already told you, we got separated in the stream. It picks up speed further downstream, and we all just drifted apart. Luckily _we_ found each other, but our friends could be anywhere right now." Maggie said.

"But you didn't try to find them? You just ran off without them? You all seemed pretty close..." Noah prodded.

"Look, like we said, we don't know anything. So stop askin' us." Maggie said.

"Well don't you worry. We have patrols out looking for your friends, as well as the rest of my men. I'm sure they'll find them soon."

Noah stopped pacing, and sat on the edge of his desk, in front of the two women. "Do you know why they call me Noah? Of course you don't… It's not my real name y'know. People started calling me that because I was rebuilding a destroyed world. I'm restarting civilization. Mount Arafat, that's where Noah's Ark landed. This village is his ark. And in order for us to go forth and multiply, we need you. All four of you ladies. Now I know you don't want to be here, you've said as much. But I don't think you know just how important you are. And I will keep you here against your will if I have to, although I don't _want_ to. Just name what it's going to take in order for you to stay willingly, and I'll give it to you. But leaving is out of the question. And we're gonna find your friends too, don't you worry."

Both women stared at him with daggers in their eyes. Noah sighed. "Now, there are many men here who are dying to meet you. I told them they can't touch, but they'd like to talk to you. Maybe you can find something in common? Maybe one will catch your fancy? I know you're covered in blood right now, maybe that's not the best way to make a first impression, but I'd be a fool to let you go back to that river."

When neither woman said anything, Noah nodded to himself. "Ok then, I'll just bring them in one by one. I'll give them three minutes to talk to you, kinda like speed dating, and then the next can come in. At the end, you each can pick who's hut you'd like to stay in tonight."

At that, Maggie and Sasha both jumped up. "What?" Sasha said in disbelief. "I'm not staying in anyone's fucking hut! You can't do this! You're sick. I'm not _breeding_ with anybody."

"Just talk to them, it'll be ok." Noah said, as he walked out.

Sasha turned to Maggie with a look of disbelief on her face. "We need to get the hell out of here, now! This man is insane."

"Maybe we can get one of these men on our side? Or at least trick them into untying our ropes. They seem stupid enough." Maggie said, but she was suddenly silenced when a young man walked into the hut. He was young, probably 19 or 20 years old. He smiled shyly as he made his way over to the women who took two steps backwards.

"Uh… hi" he said. Both women stared at him as he looked down uncomfortably. "Um… I'm Lawrence. Um… how are you?"

After a long awkward silence, he said "that was a stupid question."

"Lawrence, my name is Maggie. This here is Sasha. We've been sitting in this shack for quite a while now, and our hands have been tied behind our backs for at least an hour. We're covered in blood and we're cold, and we're not in the best mood. But it would sure make our day if you could at least cut us free from these ropes." Maggie said as nicely as she could."

Lawrence scratched the back of his head. "I don't think that'd be a good idea. I'm not supposed…"

"Lawrence" Sasha said softly, moving a little closer to him and shamelessly flirting. "We'd be mighty grateful if you untied us. We're not going anywhere, we've just had a _long_ day. And we could use a little relief."

Lawrence's face turned slightly red. "I… um… yea… I guess it wouldn't hurt. You're not gonna run anywhere right?"

"Nope. We promise." Maggie said.

Lawrence looked unsure, but the women beamed their most welcoming smiles at him, and he gave in. He pulled a pocket knife from his jeans and quickly cut their ropes, and then stuffed the knife into his back jeans pocket. "Thank you Lawrence" Maggie said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Lawrence" Sasha said, giving him a hug and shamelessly squeezing his behind, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Um… yea… so I live in the hut right over there, three huts down" he said, pointing. "You're welcome over any time."

"Three huts down. We'll remember" Sasha said with a wink, just as someone called from outside, "Your time's up!".

Lawrence nodded, pleased at himself that he seemed to make an impression on the women, and he backed out of the hut.

As soon as Lawrence left, Sasha winked at Maggie and flashed the pocket knife she swiped from Lawrence's back pocket. Maggie didn't have time to respond as another man walked in. He was much more confident and age appropriate, and he only had eyes for Sasha.

"Hello. My name is Romeo, will you be my Juliet?" he asked her, reaching for her hand as if he were going to kiss it. Sasha snatched her hand back and stared him down.

"Don't touch me" she warned.

The man looked surprised at her warning. "Don't touch you? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of you staying here?"

"We aren't staying here. And we definitely aren't here for you to touch us" Maggie said.

"No one was talking to you, girl. I was talking to this one" he said, and Maggie bristled at his rudeness.

"I think we've had enough of you" Sasha said angrily, "Next!" she yelled at whoever was letting the men into the hut.

"Hey, I'm not done!" the man said in protest. "I gave up the rest of my rations for the day to get to the front of this line."

"Tough. We're done." Sasha said.

"I said I'm not!" he yelled, grabbing her arm tightly. "Let go. Now!" Sasha said, twisting in his grip.

Maggie grabbed the man's arm to make him let go, and he smacked her across the face, making her fall to the floor. Sasha, enraged, pulled the knife with her other hand and stabbed it into the man's chest three times until he fell to the floor dead.

Sasha reached out her hand to pull Maggie to her feet, and the women stared down at the body on the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Michonne and Carol had wandered the woods for over an hour but couldn't find Maggie or Sasha anywhere. They came to the conclusion that the women had to have been recaptured.

"What do you think? Should we go back to Alexandria and get the others? Or try to get them out of there?" Carol asked.

"Its past the time we should've been back, I know they're getting worried in Alexandria. They'll probably leave to look for us at the Babies R Us soon, but it'll take us hours to walk back there. I think we should see if we can get them out… at least try. We can't leave them in there, not even for the night. Who knows what those morons will do to them." Michonne said.

"But if we get captured, no one will know where we are… how to find us." Carol countered.

"So we can't get captured." Michonne said.

"You have an idea?" Carol asked.

"Their huts are all made of wood right? So a little fire will burn them down easily. And they have cooking fires in front of every house. We get in the gates, start fires, cause havoc, free Maggie and Sasha, get our weapons, steal a vehicle, and get out. Simple." Michonne said with a hint of humor.

"How do we get in the gates?" Carol asked. Suddenly they heard a car in the distance. They laid down flat on the ground as the sounds of the car got louder and louder. Carol turned her head slightly to catch a view of one of the trucks that brought them to the stream, passing by.

"They're looking for us. Maybe we can hitch a ride?" Michonne asked.

"You mean purposely get caught?" Carol asked.

"No. We can get in the back of one of those trucks without them seeing us."

"That's kind of risky. They may check the back, or catch us when we get out."

"We can do this" Michonne said, rolling her eyes upwards as she planned out something in her head. "We make a road block, but with something they wouldn't be suspicious about. They stop the car to clear it, we hop in the back, they continue on."

Carol sighed. "This is risky Michonne. If we get caught…"

" _You_ blew up Terminus singlehandedly and freed us. _I_ took out a whole field of walkers by myself. We can do this, and we can save them, and we can make it back."

"You took out a whole field of walkers by yourself?" Carol asked incredulously.

"Yea… it was… I was going through something ok? But my point is, the two of us can do this. We have to."

Carol nodded. "I'm in. We can do this. So any idea how to get them to stop?"

Michonne nodded. "Maybe."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once again, Maggie and Sasha were tied up in Noah's tent, but this time it was serious. It seemed the man's patience with the women had expired, and he wouldn't underestimate them anymore. He had them blindfolded and guards were assigned to them.

"So you thought killing one of my men was a good idea?" Noah asked.

As expected, neither of the women spoke. Noah grabbed Sasha's shoulders, shaking her. She suppressed the urge to kick him in the nuts. "I know it was you. You're covered in blood. You did it didn't you?!"

Noah let go of Sasha and began pacing again. "I can't just let this go. The law must be followed. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. It's been a long time since we've punished a woman, but you've forced my hand. You have to die."

Sasha couldn't believe what she was hearing. She tried to jump from her seat, but Noah pushed her back down. "It was self-defense! You told us your men wouldn't touch us. He slapped her and grabbed me. I was defending us."

Noah shook his head. "I wish I could believe you, but you ladies have caused quite the problem already. You have proven that we can't trust you."

"Men, prepare the ropes, we'll hang her, it'll be quick." Noah said.

"Wait!" Maggie screamed. "You can't kill her."

Sasha, still blindfolded, turned her head towards Maggie in surprise. So did Noah. He reached over and pulled off Maggie's blindfold. "Why not?" he asked, honestly curious.

"You can't kill her because she's pregnant. And I am too."

There was a silence for a few moments as Noah processed what Maggie just said.

"Bullshit" he replied, "there's no way".

"What do you think all the baby stuff was for? You said it yourself, either we had a camp with a baby or one or more of us was pregnant right? Well, you were right."

Noah ripped the blindfold off of Sasha's face. "Is that true? Are you pregnant? Both of you?" he asked. Sasha's eyes widened and flicked over to Maggie. She knew Maggie was trying to save her life, but she didn't know how this was going to play out. There were ways to check if she really was pregnant. But if this charade would keep her alive a little longer, she was going to go with it.

"Yea" she muttered.

Noah rubbed his chin and sighed. "We'll have to check for sure before we decide what to do next."

Sasha's heart dropped into her stomach. Noah turned to one of his men who were keeping guard. "Tell Mary I need her, and two bring tests."

A few minutes later an older woman entered. She looked like she meant business and she didn't seem like the friendly type.

"You're both going to take a pregnancy test and then we'll get to the bottom of this." Noah said.

Maggie looked strangely calm, but Sasha was panicking on the inside. _So much for that plan_.

The woman, Mary, shoved a test in each of their hands.

"You expect us to pee in front of you?" Maggie asked.

"No, of course not" Noah said, "I expect you to pee in front of Mary. She'll be watching you, so we don't have any funny business."

Maggie shot Sasha a look, and she now looked as nervous as Sasha felt. Maggie was hoping they'd be stupid enough to leave them alone, and then she planned to pee on both of the sticks, but it seemed these people were on to them.

Noah shot them a smug look as he left with the male guards, but Maggie noticed they stayed right outside of the door. Mary crossed her arms and stared. "Go on" she prodded.

Maggie and Sasha gave each other one last hopeless look, and they proceeded to pee on the stick as Mary looked on expressionlessly. When they were done, Mary snatched the sticks from them before they had a chance to look at them, and left the hut, leaving them alone temporarily.

As soon as Mary left, Sasha said "Maggie, you need to worry about you and your baby. Do what they want you to do long enough to survive. Carol and Michonne are out there, they'll come back for you or they'll get the others. Don't worry about me."

"I'm gonna do what I have to for you to stay alive" Maggie said.

"No. That baby is your priority" Sasha said firmly. "Please Maggie."

Suddenly Noah walked in with Mary behind him, and more of his guards. He was holding the tests, but his expression was hard to read. Sasha tensed her body, ready to fight whoever came close enough.

Noah rubbed his eyes and sighed. "You were telling the truth" he said, "you're both pregnant".


	5. Chapter 5

Sasha's heart was racing in her chest as Noah's words penetrated her brain. "You were telling the truth. You're both pregnant." Her breathing was fast and erratic and she thought maybe she was having a panic attack. She looked to Maggie for help, but Maggie looked just as shocked as she felt. For a few seconds both women just gaped, but when Maggie saw that Sasha was in distress she quickly made her way over to her and put her arm on her shoulder. "Just breathe" Maggie whispered.

Noah didn't seem to notice the women's reactions. He was calculating what he should do with this new information. Their pregnancies made them that much more valuable to the community, and he had no intentions of letting the mothers-to-be run off. But first, he had to assess the situation.

"Where are the fathers?" he asked.

Sasha was still breathing heavily and Noah finally noticed. "Are you ok?" he asked Sasha. "She… she's just scared that you'll kill her. She's scared for her baby." Maggie covered.

"Well I wouldn't kill an innocent baby so you're safe for now. But where are the fathers of these babies?"

Maggie looked down and summoned her acting skills. In high school she had taken an acting class for one semester, and she worked her hardest to bring tears to her eyes.

"It happened on the road…" she said, closing her eyes with the hopes that a tear or two would appear. "We were… attacked… both of us… we don't know who the fathers are… we never got a good look." To Maggie's satisfaction, a single tear dripped from her eye. Sasha finally got more control of herself and nodded, confirming Maggie's story.

Noah eyed the women, but eventually his features softened. "I'm sorry you went through that, I know it must be difficult carrying those babies with what happened to you, but we will take good care of you and the babies here if you'll just let us. But we can't let you go out there. Mary, these women will be your charges. Take them to the medical shack. Make sure they eat and drink, but don't let your guard down, they've already killed at least one man." Noah said. He then directed his words to the guards that were assigned to them. "You're not to let them out of your sight for any reason. And their legs will be tied to the hut at all times. They are smart and you're not to underestimate them." Mary and the guards nodded.

Sasha's breathing was still rapid, but it wasn't as erratic. Her eyes began to glisten and Maggie could tell she was barely holding it together. Maggie gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before both of them were blindfolded and led from Noah's hut.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Michonne and Carol dragged the last of the dead guards to the side of the road. It had taken them 30 minutes to drag each of the men's heavy bodies over to where they wanted them. One of the guards had turned quickly and wandered off somewhere, but the other six still hadn't turned yet.

"Ok, the ropes should keep them in this area once they turn, but we have to be quick to release them as soon as we hear a car coming." Michonne said.

As if on cue, one of the men's hands started to twitch.

"And so it begins" Carol said softly.

The two women sat in the woods by the side of the road for twenty more minutes as the men slowly started to reanimate. Soon, only two were left on the ground, as the other four wandered around the makeshift corral that Michonne and Carol had created.

The women waited patiently, silently, for another vehicle to approach. As the fifth man began to reanimate, Carol heard the sounds of a truck approaching, going back towards the direction where they knew the camp was.

Without communicating verbally, the women sprang into action, releasing the walkers from their corral. The walkers started heading towards the road. Michonne silently willed them to walk faster, not wanting the car to pass by without seeing the small herd, but any noise she made could distract them into going in the wrong direction.

Carol and Michonne hung back in the tree line as the first few walkers made it to the road, just as the car passed by. They heard a sudden squeal of brakes, and they knew their plan was working. The car reversed quickly and they could hear the driver yell loudly "What the fuck?".

Carol and Michonne moved silently through the woods until they were behind where the truck stopped. The driver and passenger jumped out of the car as the walkers headed towards them. "Is that Nigel?" one of the men said in disbelief. "Shit! It's Igor and Pat too. What the hell?". As the two men in the truck distractedly stared at their friends, Michonne and Carol silently came up behind the truck.

"Damn, we can't leave 'em like this." One of the men said, as Nigel lunged at him. Carol quickly hopped up into the bed of the truck as one of the men sent a knife through Nigel's head, causing him to collapse to the ground with a thud. Carol reached down and grabbed Michonne's hand, pulling her up into the truck as well, as the men continued stabbing the remains of their fallen comrades.

The women laid on their backs in the bed of the truck, trying to stay as still as possible while clutching their only weapons, their knives, to their chests. They could hear the men stabbing the walkers until nothing else could be heard except the heavy breathing of the truck's driver and passenger. There was a moment of silence.

"We can't leave them out here" one of the men said. There was a pause. "We can heft them onto the back. C'mon, grab his feet."

Michonne's eyes widened in horror. If the men opened the truck bed they'd definitely see the two women hiding in back. Both women tensed their bodies, preparing to leap on the men and stab them to death if they had to.

The men approached the back of the truck, and then for some reason which she didn't understand, some act of God, the men didn't pull the back of the truck down. They promptly swung a body over the top of the truck, and it landed on the bed with a thud, the corpses arm nearly knocking Carol in the head. One after the next, the 6 men were hoisted over the back of the truck, and the women tried to move out of the way as silently as they could, although the truck did creak and squeak a bit.

"You think those missing women did this?" one of the men asked.

"Looks like the dead did this" the other man said. "They were torn open"

"Something doesn't sit right… I bet those women had something to do with it. They killed seven of our men. Good guys too. I don't care if they got working uteruses, they deserve to get what's coming to them."

"Yea. If they did this, they'll get what's coming to them. C'mon bro, let's take our guys home."

The two men climbed back into the truck, and within a few seconds, Carol and Michonne were on their way back to Mount Arafat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ride back was extremely uncomfortable as Michonne and Carol were careful not to move, but they were sharing the back of the truck with six dead men who's mutilated and long dead bodies were starting to smell. Still, they were grateful this part of their plan was working. At least for now. Step two, get out of the truck without anyone noticing. They hadn't had time to fully discuss this part of the plan, as they were more concerned with getting _into_ the truck, but now that the bodies were back here, they knew they had to jump out before the truck stopped.

Carol peeked her head up as far as she dared, to get a glance of their surroundings. She glanced over at Michonne who was also trying to peek over the truck's ledge. Carol could see the chain linked fences up ahead. They were back at the community. They shared a look that required no words. _Get ready to jump._

The truck approached the gates and rolled to a stop. They could hear a screech as someone pulled the community's front gates open and they could hear a brief conversation before the truck rumbled through the gates. The women dared to raise themselves up a little bit higher to see where they were. They were in a part of the community that they hadn't seen before. Luckily there were less shacks over on this side, and more trees. As Carol looked up ahead she saw a makeshift graveyard. They were taking the bodies to the graveyard. She grabbed Michonne's hand and they both knew they had to jump now. They knew standing up would attract the attention of the driver, so they quickly leaned over the back of the truck. Carol glanced at Michonne and Michonne gave her a wink before they both hurled themselves over the back of the truck.

Michonne hit the ground with a hard thud, the momentum making her turn over and over until she came to a sudden stop. She took a breath, realizing that she could still breathe, that she was still alive after jumping out of a moving truck. She turned her head and looked for Carol, who was laying a few feet away. Not wanting to stand up and draw the attention of the truck that was still making its way towards the graveyard, Michonne crawled towards Carol, keeping her body close to the ground. Carol let out a moan and rolled over as Michonne approached her. Both of the women had cuts and scratches on their arms from hitting the dirt so hard, and Carol had some road rash on her shoulders, but they had both survived.

"You ok?" Michonne whispered to her.

"Yea. Just… no more leaping out of trucks ok? I'm too old for this shit." Carol moaned, and both women smirked at each other.

Michonne grabbed Carol's arm and the two of them pulled themselves upwards and observed their surroundings. They were in a pretty uninhabited part of Mount Arafat, but they could see more huts not far away. They quickly maneuvered behind some trees to sort out part three of their plan.

"We need to find out where Maggie and Sasha are. They may still be in Noah's hut… or maybe they took them somewhere else. I think we need to know where they are before we set the houses on fire." Carol said. Michonne nodded.

"You think we should capture one of these people for information?" she asked.

"Too risky. Unless we kill them too, and even if we do, someone might stumble on the body before we find Sasha and Maggie. I think it might be better if we hang tight in these trees until nightfall. Try to observe what's going on. At least at night we can move better without being seen."

Michonne nodded, and the two of them crouched down behind the trees to wait for sundown. They watched as the villagers went about their day off in the distance, going in and out of their huts. The women waited in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

Michonne broke the silence. "How old was she?" she asked, still watching the people in the distance. Carol turned to Michonne slightly shocked, but knowing exactly what she was talking about. "She was ten." Michonne nodded, not taking her eyes off of the townspeople.

"How old was your son?" Carol asked. "Three" Michonne replied. There was more silence.

"Do you think… when we die, we'll see them again?" Michonne asked Carol. There was a pause, and Carol sighed and looked up at the sky as if she were seeing it for the first time.

"I used to believe it… I want to believe it. It's what gives me the strength to do what I have to do. It's the only light at the end of this nightmare."

Michonne nodded. "Me too. I want to believe it. I have to. But until then, we have to live this life. Even when it's hard. And we can find happiness with what we have here. We can find happiness with the _people_ we have here."

Carol knew Michonne was talking about Daryl now. "I want that. I want to be happy." She said.

"You will be" Michonne said, and after that the two women sat in a comfortable silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sasha" Maggie called from her spot on a bed across from the medical hut. Sasha hadn't spoken since they had been brought in there and their legs were tied to the support beams of the hut by Mary. "Sasha are you ok?" Maggie asked.

Sasha sighed, rubbing her hands down her face. "I… I don't… I…" she stuttered, before she decided to just end her sentence.

"You shouldn't've had to find out like that" Maggie said. "It wasn't right. But do you want it? Are you happy?"

"I almost died" Sasha said, quietly. "I almost drowned. So did the baby. I've only known about it for an hour and it already almost died."

"I know you're scared Sasha, but we can help you through this, just like everyone was helping me. It'll be ok. You said Abraham wanted this, I think you do too, you're just scared."

Sasha didn't say anything, so Maggie continued. "When my daddy died, and then Beth, I thought all my family was gone. But then I realized I had Glenn. He is my family now. He's my tie to this world, and now with the baby, I have something that's mine and Glenn's. To me, this baby is hope. It's what daddy, and Beth never got to see, it's proof that we can make something in this world that's beautiful and alive and new."

A tear trickled down Sasha's cheek. "You're right" she said in a barely audible voice. "I am scared".

"Sasha, you're not alone. I know you lost Bob and Tyrese, but you found Abraham, and now you have this baby. You can have something beautiful and alive and new too. We can have it together."

"Do you really believe that?" Sasha asked.

"I wouldn't've said it if I didn't" Maggie said with a smile. "We're gonna get outta here. I know we will. This ain't the end for us."

Sasha thought for a moment, and wiped a tear from her eye. "This sure as hell isn't the end." She said, and managed a smile.

"So any ideas on how we can untie ourselves?" Maggie asked, but she abruptly closed her mouth when a guard entered the room and sat down in a chair, apparently starting his watch shift.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Soon, darkness fell over the camp. Michonne and Carol who had been crouched in the cluster of trees near the graveyard stretched their aching legs. They had seen many of the villagers going about their business, and many of them seemed to be returning to their little huts for the night, but the women still had no clue where Maggie and Sasha were.

"All these houses look the same. I don't think we're gonna learn anything unless we talk to someone." Michonne said.

"When we got here, I noticed the women looked clueless, like no one told them what was really going on." Carol said.

"Like Woodbury" Michonne muttered to herself.

"I think, if we talk to one of the women, convince them that we're new and we're lost, maybe we can get more information." Carol said.

"Well, a woman just went into that hut over there" Michonne said, pointing at one of the many small huts, "it's as good a shot as any".

Carol shrugged, not able to think of a better plan.

"If it comes down to it… you know what to do…" Michonne said, and Carol nodded. They couldn't afford to get captured. They'd do what they had to do, to get home.

Checking their surroundings one more time to make sure they wouldn't be spotted, they silently crept from their hiding spots and made their way over to the hut. They tried to stay close to the ground and hide behind trees as much as possible, but they finally reached the front of the hut. No one else was around at the moment, and they quickly knocked on the piece of tin that was blocking a hole in the front of the hut, acting as a makeshift door.

They stood outside the hut for a minute, keeping watch for anyone who may be walking by. After a few seconds, they heard someone moving the tin door out of the way. A woman in her late twenties looked out of the hut, holding a toddler against her hip.

"Oh hi!" Carol said jovially, flashing an innocent smile. "Um… my name is Annie, and this is Christine. We're new here, and… this is kind of embarrassing, but we're a little lost. Noah said we could walk around and explore, but we got a little turned around and I'm not sure where we are now. Could you point us back in the direction of Noah's hut?"

The woman glanced over at Michonne and she also flashed a smile, trying to match Carol's. The woman seemed to relax a little and she gave a smile of her own. "Oh I heard there were new people taken in today. Nice to meet you. I'm Amanda." The toddler on her hip gurgled a little and Amanda smoothed the little boy's hair down. "This is Roy."

"He's adorable" Carol said with a smile.

"It's nice to have a few more women around to talk to, I'm sure you've noticed, but this camp is full of testosterone" Amanda laughed.

"Yea, well that can't be _all_ bad" Carol said, and Amanda laughed again.

"Yea, but sometimes it's nice to get away from the men" Amanda said.

"Tell me about it" Michonne added, and all three women smiled. The woman, Amanda, seemed genuinely nice.

"I'm sorry, you asked about Noah's hut. It's just over there" Amanda said, pointing. Right between those two trees. See it?"

"Yep, I see it" Carol said, nodding.

"Well, once you ladies get settled in, you're more than welcome to visit over here. My husband's name is Pat. He went out of the gates on a short mission, but he should be back soon. You're welcome to come here for dinner."

Carol quickly glanced at Michonne and her face went slightly pale. "Thank you Amanda, that's very kind. We'll be seeing you."

The two of them backed away slowly and headed in the direction she pointed in. As soon as they left her line of sight Carol whispered "Her husband was one of the men we killed".

Michonne shrugged and continued walking, but noticed Carol seemed uncharacteristically bothered. It was like something inside of Carol broke. She felt genuine guilt knowing that she took away that woman's husband, and she killed that baby's father.

"Carol, we had to" Michonne whispered, but their conversation was cut short when two men walked past the hut they were behind. Michonne grabbed Carol's shoulder and yanked her out of the men's line of sight as they strolled past, but Michonne inadvertently pressed on the road rash burn on Carol's shoulder, causing her to whimper in pain.

Startled, the men turned around. "What was that?" one asked. The men looked at each other, and headed behind the hut where Carol and Michonne were hiding. The women readied their knives. As the first man rounded the corner, Michonne jumped into action, stabbing the man in the chest. He let out a scream and Michonne quickly ended him with a knife through the head. The second man froze and stared at the man on the ground. Michonne swung at his head but he grabbed and twisted her arm, making her drop her knife. He grabbed her other arm and pinned both of them to her sides as he held her in a bear hug, facing him.

Michonne, shocked that she was disarmed so quickly, called to Carol for help, but Carol stood there seemingly in a daze. It was like Carol was somewhere else.

"You fucking bitch. You fucking killed my brother!" the man screamed, digging his nails into Michonne's arms. She was too close to him and didn't have the leverage to kick or knee him. Seeing that she was helpless against him, he grabbed her fingers, bending them backwards and she yelped in pain. She could feel that he was trying to break them.

"I'm not even gonna wait for Noah to hang you. You're gonna get the same death my brother did."

Michonne, seeing in the man's eyes that he was serious, had a flash back to all the things she had to live for. She thought of reading to Judith every night before bedtime, and the feel of the little girl's head on her shoulder as she took a nap in her arms. She thought of Carl's smile when she brought him something back from a run, and the way he hugged her goodbye whenever he left the house. And finally her mind flashed to Rick, the love of her life, who she was certain was looking for her right now. She wasn't dying here.

 _Hell no._

Taking a page from Rick's book of savagery, Michonne leaned in and bit into the man's neck until she drew blood. The man tried to scream, but she was crushing his trachea, blocking any sound from leaving him. His blood was flowing into her mouth and dripping down the front of her shirt, and she tried not to gag. He immediately let go of her, trying to push her away, but she held on, biting down harder as he flailed. She didn't have enough strength to rip his throat out like Rick had done, but she had damaged his neck enough for him not to be a threat anymore. He collapsed to the floor, and Michonne wasn't sure if he was dead or not, and she didn't care. She turned to Carol, who was still staring down at the dead man.

"Carol!" Michonne hissed. Carol didn't respond, she just stared at the two men on the ground. Michonne grabbed Carol's shoulders, shaking her, hoping to shake her out of whatever stupor she was in. "CAROL!" she yelled again, "I need you!".

Michonne's final words seemed to do the trick, as Carol's eyes found hers. "I can't do it" she whispered. "I can't do it Michonne. Seeing that family… I've killed so many and I remember each one, I've killed 23 people now and I think… I can't kill anymore."

Michonne, totally confused and thrown for a loop just stared at Carol. "This is a hell of a time for that revelation. Look, I don't understand what's going on with you, but these men aren't going to stay hidden forever. We have to get our friends and get the hell out of here, and I need you Carol. Please!" Michonne begged.

Carol nodded and pulled her knife. "Ok… lets go."

The women looked around for any more villagers before they sprinted to Noah's hut. Not bothering to knock, Carol kicked the door open and Michonne rushed in, ready to attack anyone they saw. Noah was inside alone, sitting at his table, and his head snapped up as the two women made their unannounced entrance. Carol closed the door behind them as Michonne approached with her knife aimed at Noah's throat.

"You! How… how did you get in here? You were here the whole time?" Noah asked, thoroughly shocked that the two missing women were now in his hut.

"Where are our friends?" Carol asked.

"You have five seconds before you're dead and we find them anyway" Michonne added.

"I… ok… look, I'll take you to them, but like I said…" Noah started.

"Shut up!" Michonne spat, pressing her knife against his throat. "You're gonna take us to our friends, you're gonna take us to our weapons, and then you're gonna let us go. And if you decide to change your mind, we will destroy everything you have here. Let's go."

Noah stood up, and Michonne quickly frisked him, finding a knife and a gun in his holster. She pocketed the gun and looked at Carol with a look that said _you good?_ Carol nodded. Michonne pressed the gun into Noah's back. "Take us to them, and don't draw any attention, for your sake."

They followed Noah through the mainly empty paths of Mount Arafat. It seemed most people were inside their homes, thankfully. As they approached the medical hut where the women were being held, two guards lifted their weapons.

"Put your guns down" Carol ordered. The men looked at Noah who nodded, and they put their guns on the floor. "Go inside" she said, and the men backed into the hut as Carol grabbed their guns. Michonne pushed Noah forward through the door and they entered the hut.

"Michonne! Carol!" Sasha called from her spot tied to the medical bed. Maggie's mouth dropped open. Carol quickly rushed over to them and cut their ropes with her knife as they hugged her. She shoved the guard's guns into each of their hands.

"Lay in the beds" Michonne ordered the two guards, and Maggie and Sasha leveled their guns at them as incentive for them to lay down. The women took the ropes that were binding Sasha and Maggie to the hut, and used them to tie up the two men. They then stuffed cloth into their mouths to keep them quiet.

"Take us to our weapons _now_ " Michonne ordered Noah.

"I will, but how do you think you're gonna get out of here?" Noah asked. "You really think you're gonna go far with no car? No supplies? No people to help you? With _two_ pregnant women? Are you really thinking this through?"

Michonne couldn't hide her surprise at the _two_ pregnant women comment, but she kept her focus. "Let's go. And I told you, if you try to find us I will destroy you."

The four women, now armed with three guns, followed Noah towards the armory hut. Maggie covered the front while Sasha covered the rear of the group. Michonne had her gun in Noah's back, as Carol surveyed their flanks.

"How much further?" Michonne whispered in Noah's ear. "It's right there" Noah said, pointing to one of the many huts. As Michonne looked at the hut, something inside of her made her stomach turn. She had a bad feeling and the hair stood up on her neck. "Wait!" she hissed to the other women. They all paused, searching the darkness around the hut. Michonne glanced around at the empty streets and tried to see into the shadows behind the hut, when she felt a knife plunge into her back.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ahhhhhh!" Michonne screamed, and she stumbled forward in pain and spun around to face her attacker. Sasha quickly lifted her gun and a single bullet went through the head of a man who had snuck up behind Michonne and stabbed her. Suddenly, guards started coming out of the shadows in every direction. They were surrounded.

"Put your weapons down!" someone yelled from the darkness.

"Hell no!" Sasha yelled, opening fire on the guards surrounding them. Carol scrambled over and picked up the gun that Michonne had dropped on the floor. She hesitated for a moment and then took out two guards whose heads were peeking out from behind a neighboring hut.

"Get in the armory!" Maggie screamed, grabbing Michonne who had let go of Noah and was bent over in pain. She half dragged half carried Michonne into the hut. Sasha kept cover for them as Carol ducked inside as well. Sasha then slammed the door behind her and Carol helped her push a cabinet against it.

"Michonne!" Maggie called, helping her to a sitting position on the floor. "Are you ok?"

"My back" Michonne groaned. Maggie squatted behind her and pulled up her tank top in the back revealing a deep stab wound that was trickling blood. She looked for a few seconds without saying anything.

"Is it bad?" Michonne asked, "It feels bad".

"It's… deep." Maggie said, "it needs stitches, and it needs to be wrapped up." Maggie took out a knife and ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of her own T-shirt. She reached around Michonne, wrapping the fabric around the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Thank you" Michonne said.

Suddenly a hail of bullets ricocheted off the hut's wooden shutters. Some went straight through the chinking in the hut, causing the women to hit the floor.

"Come out now! If you come out right now we won't kill you. You didn't kill Noah, we'll do you a solid and won't kill you. You make us go in there after you and you're all gonna die!" someone yelled.

Sasha looked around the small hut which was full of weapons. She immediately spotted her baby, her rifle. She crawled over to it and wrapped it around her neck, checking to make sure it still had bullets. She found Michonne's katana and slid it over to her, and passed Maggie and Carol their guns. The women communicated without words.

 _We'll get out of here alive… or we'll die trying._

"I can't use my sword with this wound" Michonne said. "Pass me a gun".

Sasha nodded and slid another rifle to Michonne. She then searched the cabinets and boxes in the hut to see if there was anything else that would be useful. To her surprise she found a box of five grenades. She smiled, passing one to each woman.

"This is the plan" Michonne started, "We blow a hole out the back of this hut, they're expecting us to come out the front. We scatter, setting fire to the huts as we go, as a distraction. If fires start popping up all over the place they won't know what direction we're going in. We save our grenades if we can, whoever gets to the chain link fence first blows it up, and we'll meet up a mile down the road."

"Michonne, you're injured, one of us has to help you" Carol said.

"No. I can make it. I'm… I'm ok. We all scatter, it's best for all of us." She said.

"No. I'll help her." Maggie said to the other women. "We'll head straight for the gate, y'all go set the fires…"

"No!" Michonne said, struggling to her feet with difficulty. "No. I'm ok. We all scatter. Please don't argue with me about this Maggie. I'll meet you all a mile down the road."

The other three women looked at Michonne. They knew it was no use arguing with her. Sasha and Maggie reluctantly nodded, but Carol continued to stare. She pulled Michonne over to the side and whispered "are you ok?". Michonne nodded. "I'll make it. I have to. And I'm not gonna slow Maggie down, she has to get home too. Are _you_ ok?" Michonne asked Carol.

Carol paused for a moment. "Gotta be" she responded, but Michonne could tell she wasn't.

"You ready for this?" Maggie whispered to Sasha. Sasha took a breath and smiled, placing her hand on her belly. "Yea. I'm ready to go home. And heaven help whoever gets in my way."

Two more gunshots rang out from outside and the women could hear the bullets bounce off the hut's walls. "Open up now!" someone yelled.

"Let's do this" Maggie said, flipping a table and dragging it close to the front door, opposite the wall they were going to blow up. Carol took a grenade from Maggie and motioned for the three other women to get behind the overturned table. Once the women were behind the table, Carol pulled the pin, threw the grenade at the wall, and dove under the table.

The explosion rocked the hut, and wooden shrapnel flew everywhere. The women's ears rang and all four of them were temporarily deaf. Pieces of the wall were embedded into the table they were behind, and half of the hut was gone. Carol was the first to recover, and although she was still deaf, she stood to her feet and took in the destruction. Through the hole in the back of the hut she could see people emerging from the surrounding huts and running. It looked like some were screaming or crying, but she couldn't hear enough to tell.

"Let's go!" she yelled, or she thought she did, she couldn't hear her own voice and she was sure her friends couldn't hear her either.

She grabbed Michonne's arm and yanked her up, and that was when she noticed the shrapnel in her own arm, and Michonne's. She looked to Maggie and Sasha and saw that they were covered in tiny cuts too. They had all been injured. The other women pulled themselves up, ignoring the pain that they all had. They lifted their weapons, looked into each other's eyes, and sprinted into the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carol ran as quickly as she could into the darkness with her gun in her hand. She knew the front gates were somewhere up ahead, but she made a sharp left and ran towards a group of huts. People were everywhere but they were too distracted by the explosion to pay her any mind. She picked up one of the logs from the cooking fire and held it to the nearest hut, the dry wood on the hut catching fire immediately. As soon as the fire caught she moved to the next hut doing the same. As she approached a third hut, a large man swung the door open and froze when he saw what she was doing. He pulled his gun but she immediately opened fire, the man hitting the ground with a thud. She heard a scream come from inside the hut, and a little girl around six years old stared at her in horror. Carol stared at the girl, her heart breaking. The smoke and heat from the burning hut snapped Carol out of her stare and she ran towards the girl, causing the girl to leap backwards until her back slammed into the hut wall. The girl began screaming in fear as Carol approached her.

"I won't hurt you" Carol said, "I won't hurt you, but you can't stay in here."

The girl screamed again and shook her head, but Carol picked up the crying child and ran from the hut.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Michonne couldn't run. She was hurt more than she let the other women realize, and the fastest she could move was at a brisk shuffle. She really did need help, but there was no way she'd let Maggie risk her life by staying with her. She quickly grabbed a stick from a cooking fire she passed, and shuffled behind some huts, hoping no one would stumble upon her. She held the burning stick up to one of the pieces of wood making up the hut's walls, and ran the stick across the length of the wall causing the entire wall to catch on fire. She could smell burning in the air and knew one or more of her friends had set fire to other huts. She could hear people screaming to get water and others asking what was going on.

Michonne shifted her weight and a sharp pain pierced through her back. Every step was painful and her katana was irritating the wound. She knew she couldn't set any more fires, she had to head for the gates. She hobbled in the direction of the front gate, leaning on the side of the burning hut as she let three men with water buckets run by her. They didn't stop at the hut she had just set ablaze, not realizing that the back of it was on fire. As soon as they passed, she made her way as far away from the huts as she could get, and using the cover of darkness she crept towards the gates.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasha had set two houses on fire, and dove behind a pile of firewood that was cut and stacked nearby when the inhabitants ran out of the huts in a panic.

"What is going on!" a man yelled.

"These fires are popping up everywhere! Someone is setting them. We have to find them. James, run to the gates and tell the guards there we're under attack, tell them to shoot anyone who tries to leave."

"OK" the man who Sasha assumed was James said.

Sasha, hearing the conversation, knew she couldn't let that man get to the gates. She peeked out from behind the stack of firewood and readied her weapon. As the man turned to run to the gates, Sasha felled him with a single shot to the head. The other man jumped at the loud shot and drew his gun, opening fire on the wood pile. Sasha crawled away from the pile trying to stay out of the line of fire, but the man ran towards the pile as he shot. He spotted Sasha crawling away and shot at her head but he missed and the bullet hit the ground a few feet away from her.

Sasha flipped herself over to her back, swung her weapon upwards and released two shots in quick succession, killing the man instantly. She pulled herself to her feet, her hands shaking from her close call. It was getting too dangerous staying here. The air was thick with smoke from various huts burning, and everyone was out and in the streets. It was time to go. Sasha ran towards the front gates, and a sudden explosion told her that one of her friends had reached there first.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maggie approached the chain linked fence with caution. There were three guards that she could see, whose job was to watch and control the gates. They had lanterns and flashlights, but it was fairly dark and she easily hid in the shadows. She had lit two huts on fire, and by the time she'd made it over here the fires were blazing wildly. She could hear people screaming and she heard a few gunshots, but she couldn't dwell on what was happening to her friends, if they were going to get out of here, she had to blow a hole through those gates.

The guards were pointing at the fires that were popping up all over the village. She heard loud curses and them running around, probably debating if they should leave their posts to help. She could hear them arguing but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She knew that she had to kill them, so that no one would follow her and her friends as they escaped. She reached down to her belly and thought of her baby who was growing inside of her in the midst of this craziness. She would do anything for this baby. She'd do anything to get back to Glenn. She crouched down in the nearby grass, pulled the pin on the grenade, and heaved it at the gates where the guards were standing.

The men heard the metal object hit the base of the gates with a thunk. They looked down for a second and one of the men asked "Did someone throw tha-", when the grenade exploded, shredding the men to pieces and bending the gate enough that there was a small hole in the base. Behind her she heard more gunshots and screaming, and a few more huts were on fire now. She turned towards the hole in the fence, squeezed herself through, and ran into the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The little girl was kicking and screaming in Carol's arms, and she was secretly proud that this small child was fighting so hard. As far as the girl was concerned, Carol was a monster who had murdered her father in front of her.

"No!" the little girl screamed, "no!"

"Shhhh" Carol warned, but the girl wasn't having it. If she continued screaming she would draw unwanted attention. Carol promptly put her hand over the girl's mouth, and the little girl bit her.

"Ouch!" Carol said, taken by surprise, and she dropped the little girl on the ground.

"Daddy!" the girl screamed, "My daddy!"

Carol grabbed the girl's wrist and kneeled down in front of her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry about what I did to your daddy. I thought he was bad, and he would hurt me. I'm sorry!" she said, tears streaming down her face. "I'm trying to bring you somewhere safe, I won't hurt you. I just want you to be safe. Please be quiet."

The girl had tears streaming down her face as well, as Carol spoke to her.

"I'm taking you to someone who will keep you safe." Carol said, and the girl stopped struggling. Carol walked up to a hut and banged on the tin door.

Amanda opened, looking terrified. "Annie! Quick, get inside, I think we're under attack!" Amanda said, grabbing Carol's arm to pull her in. Carol snatched her arm back.

"No. I need you to take this girl, her father is dead and she needs someone to take care of her, and I… have to go." Carol said, gently pushing the girl into the hut.

"What? You're not gonna go out into that! You'll get hurt. There's people running around setting huts on fire!" Amanda said, "it's not safe!".

"Look, take care of the girl ok? And stay inside." Carol paused for a moment and sighed. "And… I'm sorry about your husband, but he's not coming back."

"What?!" Amanda yelled, but Carol was already gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Sasha approached the front gate, she could see someone had blown a hole through it. At least one of her friends had gotten out. She looked and didn't see anyone else around, so she crawled through the hole and sprinted into the woods.

"Wait!" she heard a voice call from behind her. Sasha spun around with her gun raised, but quickly lowered it when she saw Carol crawling through the hole behind her.

"Thank God" Sasha whispered, as she helped Carol stand.

"Did you make the hole?" Carol asked as the two of them ran through the dark woods.

"No, Maggie or Michonne must've. Probably a few minutes ahead of us."

"Run into trouble?" Carol panted.

"Almost got shot… besides that… no. You?" Sasha asked.

"Killed a man… saved his daughter…" Carol said.

The women ran in silence for a while longer.

"I'm pregnant" Sasha volunteered.

Carol turned to look at her as she ran and almost tripped.

"Wow… you win" Carol laughed.

"Yea" Sasha huffed.

"Congratulations"

"Thanks" Sasha said.

They continued to run in silence until they approached the area they agreed to meet. Carol gave the hunting whistle that Daryl often used, to announce their arrival. She immediately heard the whistle repeated, and Maggie stepped out from her hiding place.

"Oh thank God!" Maggie cried, wrapping her arms around both women. "I was so worried. Where's Michonne?"

"She's not here?" Sasha asked.

"No… I was the first one here" Maggie said. The women turned back towards Mount Arafat. Although they couldn't see the town, they could see an orange glow reflected against the sky, coming from the multiple burning huts, and they could smell the smoke.

"She'll be here" Carol said, trying to reassure herself. "She'll be here."

The women stood in silence, waiting for Michonne to meet them.

Sasha didn't know how long they had been waiting, but it seemed like at least 20 minutes, and there was still no sign of Michonne. "We have to go back" Sasha said.

"I'll go back" Carol said.

" _We_ will" Maggie said.

"No!" Carol said harshly. "You both have another person to worry about, you can't risk…"

"She'd go back for _us_ " Maggie said.

"You're not going" Carol said. "You and Sasha keep walking. Get back to the Babies R Us and get the car. Maybe you'll run into the others on the road. You have to get out of here."

"No Carol. We're going. We don't leave anyone behind." Sasha said.

Carol turned her back to the two women and put her hand on her head and sighed, she then spun around facing the women. "What don't you understand? Your babies are always your first choice. You protect them over anyone else. You keep them safe. If my daughter was still alive, that's all I would do. That would be my first priority, to keep her safe. And maybe if that were my priority back then, she'd still be alive now. Maybe if I was strong enough… but I wasn't. And Michonne doesn't want you risking your babies' lives for her, because she's like me. And if her son were still alive, she'd do the same for him. You have a chance to have what Michonne and I couldn't, you have a chance to keep your babies safe. Please… Maggie, Sasha… please go."

Maggie wrapped her arms around Carol. She suddenly understood some of the anguish she and Michonne had gone through. She was right, Michonne wouldn't want them to risk their babies for her. "Ok Carol, we'll go. But you'll be right behind us. We're gonna see you again."

Carol nodded. Sasha then gave her a hug. "If anyone can bring her back, you can. I have faith in you Carol." Carol nodded again. "Don't look back for us and don't wait. If you get to the Babies R Us, take the car and get home. Don't come back on your own."

The two younger women looked at Carol with tears in their eyes and nodded. She watched as her friends walked away into the darkness. Carol wiped a tear from her own eye, but she had to focus. Michonne was injured and she could have been recaptured, and Carol was the only one that could save her. Carol tried to ponder a plan on the fly as she walked back to Mount Arafat.

Bright lights coming from behind her, from the direction Maggie and Sasha had gone in, startled her out of her plotting. She leaped behind a tree and within seconds she realized the lights were headlights. Her eyes opened in horror. The headlights stopped directly at the point up the road where she knew Maggie and Sasha would be if they continued walking.

Carol took off in a sprint towards the lights, keeping behind trees so she wouldn't be spotted. The headlights were so bright and the night was so dark that she was blinded. She tried not to look directly at them as she crept closer.

She could make out figures moving in front of the lights, but she couldn't tell who or what they were. Suddenly she heard a yell that sounded like Maggie, and then her yell was quickly muffled. Carol raised her gun and drew closer, ready to take whoever was hurting Maggie by surprise and put a bullet in their head, when she heard a familiar voice.

"We was lookin' for y'all for hours, you scared us half to death. Where's Carol?"

Carol's heart stopped. She knew that voice. Daryl.

She suddenly stepped into the headlights, letting her hand with her gun fall to her side. "Carol?" Daryl called in surprise. He ran to her and he was suddenly on her, lifting her up and spinning her around, pressing his body against hers. He held her tight, almost rocking her, rubbing his cheek against hers. "Shit, where have you been?" he whispered. "You scared me to death." He pulled his face from hers to glance into her widened eyes. "Carol, you ok?" he asked. She stared into his eyes and before she could stop them, tears welled up in her own and trickled down her cheeks. She shook her head no. He pressed her against him again, and then without warning kissed her on the lips. He gently held his mouth to hers, not deepening the kiss, but letting her know how he felt. They stayed there for a few seconds, arms around each other, lips pressed together, until she moved her head back and they stared into each other's eyes.

Glenn clung to Maggie so tightly she was having trouble breathing, but she didn't care. He was here, she was safe. She buried her face in his shirt, taking in his smell, and the feel of his muscles against her body. "Glenn… Glenn…" she muttered as she cried, overjoyed to be in his arms again. "God Maggie, what happened? How did you end up all the way out here? We never would've even come this way but we saw something was burning in the distance, and we could smell the smoke. We thought it might be a forest fire but… I'm just so glad to be holding you again."

Abraham and Sasha were in their own little world, he had his arms wrapped tightly around her, and her head was buried in him. He kissed the top of her forehead, her neck, her shoulders, any part of her he could reach. "Who the hell did this to you? Who brought you out here? When we saw the car with all the baby stuff just abandoned…" his voice drifted off and he spoke in a whisper. "I thought I lost you forever. I almost couldn't…" he went silent, and Sasha lifted her head to look in his eyes. "You didn't lose me. I'm right here. I'm here with you." He nodded and brought his hand up to cup her cheek. "I love you. Don't leave me again, please." Sasha nodded and smiled. "I won't. I love you too."

Rick had been off to the side, searching the woods, listening for the crunching of footsteps or the sounds of breathing. Was she hiding? Keeping watch? He wanted to give the other couples their moment, but he couldn't hold in the terror that was bubbling up in his chest. _Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?_ Finally, Rick couldn't hold it in anymore, and the words burst from him involuntarily. "WHERE'S MICHONNE?" he screamed.


	7. Chapter 7

Michonne hobbled her way towards the front gate. Her back was burning from the stab wound, and the knife must've hit a nerve, as every time she took a step a shooting pain tore up her back. She could feel blood trickling from the makeshift bandage Maggie had made, and she knew that it was soaking the back of her jeans. She paused to lean on the chain linked fence surrounding Mount Arafat to catch her breath. The shrapnel in her arms from the hut's explosion was a mere irritation, but that, coupled with the stab wound made her miserable.

She looked around scanning her surroundings. She was far enough away from the huts that she was generally unnoticed by the villagers running around trying to salvage their burning homes. The fires had rapidly spread across the village, leaping from house to house, and the heat coming from the fires was intense. Michonne knew that she would be noticed soon as people fled the town if she didn't get out of there.

Still leaning on the fence, she inched herself closer to the hole that had been blown in the gate. She was glad that her friends had escaped, and she was grateful they didn't stay with her. She really couldn't move any faster than she was moving at the moment, and even if she didn't make it, at least some of them could get back to Alexandria and let Rick know what happened. She hoped they wouldn't wait for her, or come back to get her, although knowing those women she knew they probably would.

Her thoughts turned to Rick and her family. She would keep going as long as she could. She would always try to get back to them.

Finally, she made it to the hole that someone had blown in the front gate. She carefully leaned down like an old woman, and got on her hands and knees, slowly crawling through the hole. Once through she put her hands on her knees to help push herself up to a standing position and realized she couldn't get up. She tried three times to stand and wound up falling back down each time. The pain in her back was so intense she couldn't straighten her back to stand.

She sighed, feeling the impossibility of her situation. Frustrated tears came to her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away, and another sensation, pure determination and stubbornness filled her.

 _I'm not dying like this. I'm going home to my children. My boyfriend. I'll crawl if I have to._

Returning to her hands and knees, Michonne positioned her katana onto her back and strapped her rifle underneath her front. She then began to crawl away into the forest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"WHERE'S MICHONNE?" Rick screamed, startling everyone else.

Carol ripped her gaze from Daryl's to look at Rick. "She was supposed to meet us a half hour ago, we escaped separately from that village that's burning up ahead. We all got out but she's still missing. I was just about to go back and get her when you showed up."

Rick's eyes widened with surprise and then narrowed in rage. "Get in the RV" he ordered everyone, "we'll talk on the way there".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Michonne had been crawling for a few minutes. It was such a dark night she really couldn't see where she was going. Her knees were raw from being scraped on the ground, and her palms would have been scraped as well if not for her gloves. The ground had a slight dew to it, and she was now wet from crawling through it, and even without standing, pain shot through her back as she crawled.

 _Just a little further, stay off the road, get away from the village. You can do this, you've been through worse._

She encouraged herself to keep crawling although she would've loved to roll up in an exhausted ball and fall asleep right there on the forest floor.

 _Rick is looking for you. Maggie, Sasha, Carol, they're waiting for you. Carl and Judith, they want you home. Come on Michonne, keep crawling, stop being a wimp. After everything you've found and earned in the past few months, it doesn't end like this. You're finally happy, you're finally whole. Fuck this. Fuck Noah. Fuck this knife wound._

In her head, Michonne cursed everything holding her back from getting home. She pulled on some kind of inner strength that she didn't know she had. It was like a switch clicked inside of her, and she chose to ignore the searing pain in her body. Leaning heavily on a tree, she attempted to stand again, and she finally pushed herself upwards to a standing position. She ripped a long stick off the tree to give her support as a cane, and she hobbled once again towards the rendezvous point.

Lights up ahead caused her to freeze and slink behind some bushes. A large vehicle was approaching on the road. It was rolling fairly slowly as if they were searching for something. Michonne's eyes widened in terror and she stayed stock still, hoping they didn't spot her. She couldn't crouch down behind the trees because she knew if she got on the floor again she'd never be able to get back up.

As the vehicle got closer she could make out some details besides the large bright headlights. It almost looked like the… RV!

Michonne lifted up her walking stick and waved it trying to get the RV's attention as it rolled past, but they didn't seem to see her. She hobbled closer, but they were moving past where she was, making their way further down the road.

"Wait!" she yelled, "Rick!"

As soon as she yelled Rick's name the RV screeched to a halt. Within seconds, Rick had flung the door open and leaped from the RV, and Michonne wondered if he had even put the vehicle into park. In her excitement she attempted to hobble closer to meet Rick as he ran to her, but she moved too quickly and fell to the ground with a thud.

"Michonne!" Rick yelled, reaching her and scooping her back up. "Michonne, are you ok? Are you ok?" he asked, pressing her to him. He must've felt the blood on her back because he pulled one of his hands from her back and it was red. "Oh my God, what happened?" he cried.

Michonne had tears rolling down her face. All she could get out was a relieved "Rick", and her legs gave out again.

He picked her up and carried her back to the RV, kissing her face the entire way. Everyone inside looked at her in terror as Rick laid her in the bed in the back of the RV on her side. He pulled up her shirt to reveal the deep stab wound which had soaked her shirt and the back of her jeans in blood.

"Let me clean it" Maggie said, reaching into one of the cabinets in the RV where they kept extra medical supplies. Rick reluctantly took a step back as Maggie squeezed herself in between them to clean Michonne's wound.

"When I walk, it feels tingly, and I feel a pain go down my back" Michonne said.

"Probably damaged a nerve" Maggie mumbled. "Hopefully it's something that can heal itself. Just relax Michonne, you're safe now."

Rick was holding Michonne's hand and stroking her face while Maggie worked. "Carol told me about how you were all kidnapped and brought here. Who did this to you? Who hurt you?"

"He's dead" Michonne said.

"Who's in charge in that town?" Rick asked, his eyes suddenly going dark.

"A man named Noah. Right now the people are panicked and running around. Their town is burning down."

"Perfect" Rick said, glancing up at Abraham and Glenn who was watching the scene from the couches in the RV. Rick didn't have to say anything more, both men hopped up and grabbed their guns.

Rick leaned over and kissed Michonne gently on the lips. "I'll be right back sweetheart, I promise. I love you."

Michonne knew exactly what Rick was about to do, and she knew it was something he had to do. She nodded. "I love you too."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daryl sat on the couch next to Carol, her fingers entwined with his. The two of them didn't say a word, but so much was exchanged in just the gesture of them holding hands. The relationship between them just wasn't the same anymore.

The two of them watched as Rick left the back room where Michonne was being treated by Maggie. "We go back there and take them all out" Rick said quietly, shouldering the rifle that Michonne had carried with her.

"Rick. There's children in there, and innocent people." Carol said. "You can't kill them all."

Rick turned to her with fire in his eyes, but he took a breath and seemed to come around. "Fine. We don't kill anyone who surrenders or isn't a threat. But that Noah guy, he doesn't get to live."

Carol looked down at the floor. The old her would've been fine with Rick killing everyone. These people had kidnapped them and deserved whatever they got. But something in her had changed.

"I'm coming" Carol said.

"You're hurt, you got wood stickin' out your arms. You ain't goin' nowhere." Daryl said.

"You don't even know where you're going." Carol said, standing up and grabbing her gun.

"Let's go" Carol said, not waiting for the men to follow behind her as she left the RV.

The men reluctantly followed her out, but Sasha quickly grabbed Abraham's arm before he left. "I… I have to tell you something. When you get back. So hurry up." "You can't tell me right now?" Abraham asked, looking at her curiously. "Believe me, it's worth the wait" Sasha said, kissing Abraham on the lips. He grinned slyly, turned around, and left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the group reached the front gates of Mount Arafat, they were greeted with pure chaos. The majority of the town was engulfed in flames, and it didn't seem like anyone was doing anything about it. People were spread out in pockets, gathering together to stare at their possessions being consumed. No one was in charge.

"Let's go" Rick said, readying his rifle as the group entered through the hole in the gate Maggie had blown. They snuck around the perimeter of the gates unseen. "Where's Noah?" Rick whispered to Carol.

"I don't know, I can take you to where his hut was, but it may not be there still." Rick nodded and Carol led the group towards the hut.

Suddenly a man yelled at them to stop, and Rick spun around and three men were pointing guns at them. "Who are you?" the man yelled. "Where's Noah?" Rick asked. "Put your guns down and kneel" the man yelled. A small smile flitted across Rick's face, and he opened fire on the men, cutting them down. Abraham ran to pick up the men's guns as Rick continued on.

"That's his hut" Carol said, pointing to one of the few huts that currently wasn't on fire. The door was closed. Rick kicked the door down and barged in, Glenn and Daryl right behind him. A man was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. He looked up as the group entered. "Who the hell are you?" Noah asked. Rick stalked forward and grabbed Noah by the front of his shirt, yanking him to his feet. "I'm the boyfriend of one of the women you kidnapped." Rick said, holding Noah's face close to his own. Noah's eyes widened even more. "They said they were alone! I didn't know… I was helping them!" Noah cried. "My woman was stabbed in the back, and they are covered in cuts. How the fuck were you helping them?" Rick said calmly.

"I just wanted them to join us. I just wanted them to stay" Noah said. Abraham ripped Noah from Rick's hands and pushed him up against the wall of the hut. "What kind of man are you, holding women here against their will?"

Noah's eyes flashed to the faces of the angry men surrounding him. His eyes landed on Carol. "Tell them!" Noah begged. "Tell them I didn't hurt you while you were here. Didn't we treat you well?" he asked her.

"You had Maggie and Sasha tied to a pole. Fuck you." Carol said.

"I never would've hurt the pregnant ones!" Noah yelled, and everyone paused. "What?" Abraham asked. "The pregnant ones, I just tied them up because they had killed a man. I wouldn't have hurt them. Please! Please don't kill me!"

Abraham looked like he'd been slapped, and he loosened his grip on Noah. Noah, taking advantage of the freedom, took off in the direction of the hut's door where Glenn tripped him and Daryl put a bolt in the man's back. Noah screamed in pain as Rick dragged him to his feet again. "That's poetic justice for what happened to Michonne."

Rick then took out a knife and glanced at the others around him, silently asking them if they were ok with him doing the honors. The others nodded, and Rick stabbed Noah multiple times until he collapsed to the floor, finishing him off with a knife to the head.

"Jackass" Daryl mumbled.

"Let's go home" Rick said.

"What about the people here?" Carol asked. "The kids?"

"I don't take chances anymore" Rick said. "They kidnapped you and they're still alive. They've had a good day."

Carol nodded. That would have to be enough. The group filed out of the hut and headed back towards the gates, completely unnoticed by the people of Mount Arafat. Most of them would never know why their town was destroyed and their leader stabbed to death, but they were lucky to still be alive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasha had climbed to the top of the RV to act as a look out to protect the women inside, as well as give the return group cover if they came back to the RV and were being chased. She heard footsteps coming towards them and she crouched down and cocked her rifle into the darkness.

"It's ok Sasha, it's us." She heard Abraham call. She lowered her weapon and could barely make out the group of five heading towards the RV.

The rest of the group climbed inside the RV as Sasha climbed down the ladder to get off the roof. Abraham waited underneath her.

She turned around to face him and he embraced her, holding her steady in his arms. "We killed that dick. No one will ever hurt you again. Not while I'm the hell around." He said. Sasha smiled as he hugged her. "I know" she said. "What did you want to tell me?" Abraham asked, already suspecting the answer. Sasha reached up and cupped both of his cheeks, pulling his head down closer to hers. She then grabbed both of his hands and placed them on her belly. "I'm pregnant."

A smile spread across Abraham's face. "I know. The dumbass leader over there spilled the beans."

Sasha frowned. "He told you already?"

"Might've mentioned it. But it sounds so much better comin' from you. Damn, we made pancakes! Mother dick!" Abraham said in wonder.

"So you're happy?" she asked.

"Baby, does a humpback whale have a 10ft long penis?"

"Um… yes?" Sasha asked hopefully.

"Hell yea!" Abraham said, picking her up and spinning her around as Daryl started the RV's engine.

Sasha smiled as Abraham lifted her into the RV. "So you think it'll be a short stack?" Abraham asked, "Triplets run in my family".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rick sat next to Michonne as she lay in the bed in the back of the RV. Maggie had done all she could, wrapping the wound tightly to create pressure and slow down the bleeding, and plastering a bandage on it, but Denise was needed to stitch the stab wound closed.

"You hanging in there?" Rick asked, leaning closer to her face and kissing her forehead.

"Always" she said with a smile.

"You scared me to death" Rick said. "Me and Carl. He was furious I wouldn't let him come with me. I had to literally tell Abraham to drive away to stop him from hopping in the RV."

"That's our boy" Michonne laughed.

"He also yelled to me not to come back if I didn't have you, and I'm 98% sure he meant it." Rick said.

Michonne's smiled dropped a little with that comment. "I'm sure he didn't mean _that_ , he was just worried."

"He loves you, like I do." Rick said. Michonne nodded and reached up to stroke Rick's face. "You helped save me you know. I mean… not what happened just now… When we were trying to leave the village, a man grabbed me, he held my arms down so I couldn't get free. And I bit his neck, just like you did. I never would've thought of it if I hadn't seen you do it. I think your savagery is starting to rub off on innocent ol' me."

Rick smiled. "That's my girl", Rick said proudly, "but let's not get this twisted. You have _never_ been innocent, at least not since I've known you."

Michonne laughed and then her smile faded as she thought back to trying to escape Mount Arafat. "When I got out the gates, and I was trying to find the rest of the girls, my legs collapsed, and I couldn't stand up. And all I kept thinking was that you were looking for me, and the kids were waiting for me, and I had to do this, I had to survive this, for you. You and Carl and Judith gave me the strength to keep trying. As long as the three of you are alive, I'll always come back to you. I promise." Michonne said.

Rick nodded and leaned over to kiss Michonne. He then rested his forehead against hers, breathing in her scent that he missed so much, that he thought he might lose forever. "And I'll always find you. I promise too."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the couples finally reached Alexandria, it was early the next morning. They had stopped to pick up the truck that the women had originally driven, that was still parked at the Babies R Us, before they returned.

When they arrived, everyone headed straight to the infirmary, as all of the women had injuries that had to be taken care of. After Denise stitched up Michonne's stab wound, she completed the painstaking task of picking pieces of wood and shrapnel out of all the women's skin. By the time she was done, the women had all fallen asleep in the infirmary beds and so she let them stay there for the night, together. As Maggie slept, Denise also checked on her baby to make sure it was ok, and with Abraham's urging, she checked on Sasha's baby as well. Denise told him that it was too early on in the pregnancy to tell how many babies were in there yet, but Sasha was healthy, and that was what was important.

Denise stubbornly sent the men home, even standing up to Rick who insisted on staying with Michonne. "They need their rest, and they won't get it with you guys hovering around them. I'll open the infirmary at 7:00 a.m. They will be safe, and resting in here until then."

The men reluctantly went home, and Denise laid a blanket over each of the women before closing up the infirmary for the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasha was the first to wake up. She slowly opened her eyes, taking in the bright sunlight and the view of her three closest friends sleeping in the infirmary beds around her. She smiled to herself. They had made it, they were home, they were safe. And, she was pregnant. She hadn't had time to fully process it, with everything that was going on, but she could at least decide that she was happy.

 _And if there's triplets in there I'm gonna kill Abraham._

Michonne stirred in her sleep and then opened her eyes. She was sleeping directly across from Sasha, so they made eye contact.

"Hey!" Sasha said, "good morning"

"Morning" Michonne moaned as she yawned.

"How are you feeling?"

"Shitty, how 'bout you?" Michonne asked.

"Amazingly grateful" Sasha answered.

"I like that. I see you're a morning person." Michonne laughed. "I… kinda heard about the baby… from Noah".

Sasha rolled her eyes. "That bastard just told everyone _all_ my business"

"I just want you to know I'm happy for you and Abraham. You both deserve to be happy."

"Thanks" Sasha replied. Their conversation woke up Carol who also stretched. "Denise got rid of the men? How'd that happen?"

"That woman's got balls" Sasha said, and they all laughed.

"So… did you and Daryl get to talk last night?" Sasha asked, "I couldn't help but notice the sparks that were happening on the road… and that kiss."

Carol rolled her eyes. "No, we didn't get to talk. But we will."

"Less talkin' and more lingerie" Maggie called from her bed.

They could hear footsteps making their way up the front porch as Denise unlocked the infirmary for the day.

"Mornin' ladies, it's good to see everyone up and about" Denise said as she entered the room. "You had many fans last night and I made them leave, but I have a feeling they'll be lining up outside to see you once visiting hours start. I would suggest the rest of you take a shower and get dressed while I change Michonne's bandages."

"Oh joy" Michonne said sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

"Have fun with that" Maggie said as she rolled out of bed. "I call first dibs on the shower."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the women were released that same day, but Michonne had to stay for observation because of the seriousness of her stab wound. Her legs were still partially numb and unsteady, and Denise set her up for a rigorous bout of physical therapy to get her back to where she needed to be.

Daryl came to walk Carol home once she was released from the infirmary. As they walked, Daryl suddenly grabbed her hand, startling her. "I'm not too good with this stuff. Merle was the one that got all the ladies, and I was just kinda along for the ride. But… I want an us. How I felt yesterday, when you went missing, I don't never want to feel like that again."

"How did you feel?" Carol asked softly.

Daryl looked at the ground and rubbed his boot in the dirt. He was silent for a while and Carol thought maybe he didn't want to answer, but she realized that he was holding back tears. She put her hands on his face and moved his eyes up to hers. They were pink around the edges and wet. She embraced Daryl, pulling his head down to her shoulder and kissing his cheek.

"I'm sorry" she whispered. "I want an us too. I always have."

"Really?" he asked, straightening up and looking in her eyes again.

"Yea dumbass, are you really that clueless?" Carol said, laughing.

"Yea" he muttered. "Maybe… But I ain't gonna be no more. Just… just be patient with me."

Carol smiled at how sweet he was. "Well, you said you wouldn't be clueless anymore, so what do you think I want right now?" Carol asked, moving in closer to Daryl so that their chests were pressed together.

"Umm… wanna go for a ride?" Daryl asked sincerely, and Carol's face fell.

He chuckled at her expression. "No. Not on a motorcycle…" he whispered, and Carol's body clenched at his words. He took her hand, and quickly lead her to the home he shared with Rick and Michonne, knowing that no one was home and they had the house to themselves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Glenn walked Maggie to their home after she was released from the infirmary he whispered into her ear, "I have a surprise for you." Maggie's eyes widened in surprise at her husband's excitement. "Really?" she asked, "what kinda surprise?". He didn't answer until they got to their front steps. "Close your eyes" he said. Maggie, excited to find out what was going on, closed her eyes as Glenn held her hand and lead her through the house. "Watch your step" he said, as they made their way upstairs. He led her to the spare bedroom that would soon become their baby's room.

"Last night, after Denise kicked us all out of the infirmary, I couldn't go to sleep. Not without you. So I did something useful with my insomnia. You can open your eyes now." He said.

Maggie opened her eyes and was shocked into silence. Glenn had set up their baby's room and decorated it. The crib and bouncer that she and Sasha had picked out was completely set up in the room, as was a dresser, and the giant teddy bear that Michonne had grabbed. The baby books that Michonne picked out were stacked in a bookshelf, and a brand new rocking chair was in the corner of the room. The thing that really made Maggie start to cry was the beautiful name carving on the wall. The name Hershel was carved out of a piece of wood and mounted on the wall behind the baby's crib. The baby boy's full name would be Hershel Dale Rhee. The two of them had decided to name the baby after Hershel, who was a father to both Maggie and Glenn, and Dale after the man who had taught Glenn so much about life and morality.

A sob escaped Maggie's mouth as she hugged Glenn. "Thank you. It's great." Maggie sobbed. "You're a great husband, and you're already a great dad."

Glenn smiled and hugged Maggie tighter. "There's another reason I finished the room" Glenn said, and Maggie looked up into his face with curiosity. "Now, you have no excuse to go baby shopping! You're not leaving these gates again until this baby is born" he said with a smile.

She knew he was serious. "Yea" she said, cupping his cheek. "I won't".

 ** _Author's note_** ** _: First of all, thank you so much for the reviews! You folks are so great and supportive and I really appreciate it. So, I'm completely cool with ending this story right here, but if you'd like another chapter, please let me know. And if you would like another chapter, let me know what you'd like it to resolve. Audience participation is welcome!_**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's note: Thanks for all the feedback, you guys had excellent ideas so I tried to merge together the ideas as best as I could. And since practically everyone who responded wanted a Richonne centered chapter (and Richonne is my favorite couple anyway) here it is. Enjoy!**_

"C'mon mom, it's time to change your bandage" Carl called from downstairs.

Michonne smiled to herself. Ever since she was allowed to return home two days ago, Carl had taken it upon himself to change her bandage, even though Rick would argue with him for the job. She found it adorable that her two boys would argue over who got to take care of her, and they finally worked out that Carl would change the bandage in the mornings and Rick at night. Rick readily agreed, as there were other less altruistic reasons why he wanted to take care of her at night.

"I'm coming!" Michonne called. She picked up the cane Denise had given her and pulled herself up from her bed. She had sustained moderate nerve damage from the knife, and the numbness in her legs made it difficult to walk at times, but she was healing, and she was getting more and more feeling every day. Denise said the nerves would probably heal themselves, but it would take time and physical therapy.

Carl was basically her little coach, taking her for walks in the morning, helping her do stretches and exercises that Denise had recommended, and making sure she rested as well. It was both endearing and annoying, but she knew in some ways Carl was paying her back for the way she doted over him when he lost his eye. She knew this was his way of telling her thank you.

"Ok, have a seat" Carl said when Michonne finally reached the bathroom. Michonne slowly lowered herself onto the covered toilet seat. Carl hummed to himself as he got the bandage and the antiseptic ready.

"Did you do your stretches when you woke up?" Carl asked. Michonne grinned. "Yes Carl I did my stretches."

"Any pain?" he asked as he poured some hydrogen peroxide onto a cotton ball.

"Are you training with Denise now?" Michonne asked, "you sound just like her."

"I'm just making sure you're doing all the stuff she said you're supposed to do." Carl responded, dabbing the wound with the cotton ball.

Michonne involuntarily sucked in a breath when Carl pushed a little harder than expected. "Sorry" he mumbled.

"It's ok" she said.

He worked in silence for a little while longer as he wiped down the wound. "I heard Sasha is having a baby too" he said out of nowhere.

"Um… yea" Michonne said, unsure of how to respond to that.

"Do you ever think about it?" Carl asked. Michonne turned to look at him in surprise. "Think about having a baby?" she asked.

"Yea" Carl said, "you know, one with you and dad."

Michonne was speechless. She had thought about having a baby, a lot. Ever since she'd heard that Maggie was pregnant and she saw that ultrasound she thought about it. But she also didn't want to bring up all of the emotions that came with having a baby, because she knew it would always come back to Andre.

"I know why you might not want one" Carl said, reading her mind, "but if having a baby would make you happy, you should do it. You deserve to be happy. And if you two had one I would be happy too."

The sincerity in Carl's voice almost made Michonne burst into tears. "Come here" Michonne said, pulling Carl to her and hugging him. "I'll think about it. And it makes me happy to know that you'd be happy. But right now I'm just focused on getting better, and after that… we'll see."

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Two weeks later

Rick and Carl were working in Alexandria's garden as Judith chewed on a carrot as she sat in her stroller. The pair had been working on pulling weeds from the tomato patch for a few hours and they were both hot and thirsty.

"Wanna take a break?" Rick asked Carl. Carl nodded and took his hat off his head, fanning himself. They both made their way over to the shade where Judith's stroller was. Rick lifted the cooing baby out of the stroller and he and Carl both sat on the ground, with Judith sitting on Rick's lap. "Dat! Dat!" Judith called, pointing at a nearby flower. "You want that sweetie?" Rick asked her, pointing to the flower, "say flower". "Dat!" Judith said. Rick smirked. "Close enough" he smiled, picking the flower and passing it to Judith.

Carl smiled at his sister and looked at his father. "Dad. I think you and Michonne should have a baby." Carl said bluntly.

Rick almost hurt his neck, whipping it around to look at Carl. "Wh-what?" he stuttered.

"The two of you should have a baby. Maggie and Sasha are having babies, and we're safe… well, safer now, and… I think it would be cool to have another brother or sister." Carl explained.

"Wait… where is this coming from Carl? Did Michonne say she wanted a baby?"

"I'm not gonna say, but I think you should talk to her about it."

Rick sighed. "So you want another sibling?" he asked.

Carl smiled. "Yea. I do."

Rick looked down at Judith who was babbling and furiously ripping the petals off the flower he'd given her. He had been thinking about having a baby with Michonne since the night they'd kissed on the couch. He wanted to experience everything life with her had to offer. He'd have ten babies if she wanted it, but he never thought that she wanted it. After she had told him about Andre, he figured she was hurting too much for him to bring up having a baby. And she had never brought it up. He was more than happy with their family the way it was, but if she wanted…

"Mama!" Judith called from Rick's lap, reaching her hands up in the air. Rick was startled out of his day dream. "Mama!"

Rick looked up, confused as to why Judith was yelling mama, when he saw Michonne slowly making her way towards them. Rick leaped off the ground in shock. She didn't have her cane, and she was walking almost normally. He hadn't seen her walk without the cane since she'd been stabbed, and for her to have walked from the house to the community garden was almost a miracle.

Rick glanced at Carl to see if he had known that she could do this, and he looked just as shocked.

"Yea mom!" Carl encouraged, "Woooo!"

Judith, picking up on Carl's excitement, happily clapped her hands together. Carl took Judith from Rick and started to chant "mom-my!, mom-my!, mom-my!" and Judith quickly joined him, the two of them cheering Michonne on.

Michonne had a huge smile on her face as she made her way closer to them, and as her eyes met Rick's he saw a look of pure contentment. He wanted nothing more than to run to her and pick her up in his arms, but this was her moment, and he wanted her to get her victory.

She finally reached them and Rick wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheeks and neck, and finally kissing her lips. "That was amazing, sweetheart" he said, "how long have you been holding out on us?".

"I didn't know I could do it" she said with a shrug, "I just saw you all over here from the house, and I knew I was gonna come join you or make a fool of myself trying."

Carl came over and hugged Michonne. "Don't think this means you're gonna stop doing your physical therapy" Carl warned, "Denise said you have to continue for at least a month to make sure the nerve connections are healed properly."

Michonne rolled her eyes and looked at Rick. "We've created a little monster."

Rick smiled. "He gets it from you."

"Mom-my! Mom-my!" Judith yelled, still chanting. Michonne took Judy from Carl, holding her up so they were eye to eye.

"Yes Judy pie?" Michonne asked.

"Kiss kiss" Judy said, and then planted a kiss on Michonne's cheek. "Awww, thank you sweetie" Michonne said, cuddling the little girl. Rick then helped Michonne sit down next to them as they enjoyed the afternoon in the garden, in the shade.

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Two months later

"That was…" Rick panted, too tired to finish his sentence. "Yea" Michonne muttered, her eyes closed, equally exhausted. Rick rolled over so that his body was pressed up against hers. "You think?" he asked, once again not finishing his sentence. His hand trailed down her sides until it reached her naked belly.

"I don't know, maybe?" Michonne asked. "I've been too scared to check. I'm afraid of the answer, either way."

They had been trying for a month now, ever since Denise had given Michonne a clean bill of health. Rick had taken full advantage of any and every opportunity he could, to get in some baby making time. To Michonne's mortification Carl had even helped, taking Judy to sleep over Tara, Eugene and Rosita's house multiple times to give the couple some private time. Although Michonne hadn't noticed any signs of pregnancy, Rick suspected she was, but she had refused to take a test whenever he asked.

Rick sat up a little so he was leaning over Michonne as she laid on her side. "What are you afraid of?" he asked. "You do want this right?"

Michonne sighed and turned in towards him. "I do. I want it more than I thought I did. But… what if it doesn't happen? What if it never happens? I don't think I could handle taking that test again and again and it being negative. It took me so long to get pregnant with Andre. He was my little miracle. I thought if I had him it would be enough. I could be grateful for just that. Just one. What if I'm not pregnant? What if I never am?"

Rick was taken aback. She had never told him that she had trouble getting pregnant with Andre. He took a hand and cupped her face. "If you don't want to check you don't have to. We can wait and see. We can just keep on doing what we're doing until you get some signs, ok? There's no rush."

Michonne saw the concern in his eyes and it made her heart melt. She suddenly had an idea. "I can't look, but you can. I'll take the test and you look at the results". Rick smirked at her. "Are you serious?", "Do I look serious?" Michonne said, not cracking a smile. "So if you are pregnant, when do you want me to tell you?" Rick asked. "When I ask you to" Michonne said. "I'll ask you, when I'm ready".

Rick nodded. "OK".

Michonne immediately rolled over and sat up. "Where are you going?" Rick asked. "To take the test" she responded, walking to the bathroom with a swish of her hips. Rick watched her go, his eyes falling on the stab wound, permanently scarred into her back. He chuckled to himself. His brave warrior queen, who slayed walkers like it was her job, and stared death in the eye on the regular was afraid to find out the results of a pregnancy test.

Rick let out a nervous breath as Michonne reappeared in the doorway holding the piece of plastic and she quickly placed it in his hands. She then laid down on her side of the bed and turned her back to him. Rick held the pregnancy test and closed his eyes. He was nervous with anticipation. He glanced over his shoulder at her and saw that she was completely still, but he knew she wasn't sleeping. "You sure you don't want to know?" he asked.

"No" she mumbled into the pillow.

Rick swallowed and then looked down at the test. He read the results. He then put the test upside down on the night table, rolled over, and wrapped his arms around Michonne, resting his head on the crook of her neck.

"Did you see it?" Michonne asked.

"Mmhmmm" he mumbled.

She was silent for a moment and he could hear her heart beating in her chest. "Wanna go round two?" she asked.

"Mmhmmm" he mumbled.

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A week later

Michonne was actually impressed with how well Rick was keeping the secret. He had taken the pregnancy test somewhere, probably off to be destroyed, and he acted the same as he always had. She was tempted to ask him multiple times, but she decided she still wasn't ready to know yet. And she would find out soon anyway, seeing as though her period was due in a couple of days.

Sasha and Abraham had invited everyone over to their house for a party, and the family was getting dressed. Michonne had pulled on a tight fitting dress that ended right above her knees and showed off all her curves. Before she had a chance to fully get dressed, Judith had started to cry and she went to change the little girl's diaper and get her ready, totally forgetting about her own appearance. After she put on Judith's little party dress, Carl called from downstairs "Are you guys ready?".

"Coming!" Michonne called. She picked up Judith and carried her downstairs where Carl was waiting impatiently by the door. Rick came out from the kitchen holding a bottle that he'd made for Judith. As Michonne approached him he took in how beautiful she looked in her dress. He then realized that she hadn't finished getting dressed.

"Honey, you plan on going outside with the back of your dress open and no shoes on?" he asked with a smirk.

Michonne did a double take at her appearance and sighed. "Let me help" he murmured, coming up behind her as she held Judith. He gently put his hands on her back, and ran his fingers down her spine causing her to shiver. He then leaned over and made a trail of kisses down her bare back, getting dangerously close to her bottom. Michonne closed her eyes and sighed again. "Rick, you have an audience" she reminded him, as a curious Judith peeked over Michonne's shoulder to watch her father.

"Dad-deeee!" she said happily. "Peek a boo!" Rick said, hopping up from his bent over position in an attempt to cover up his nefarious intentions, and Judith laughed hysterically. He quickly zipped up the back of Michonne's dress and patted her bottom for good measure. "I'll go get your shoes" he said, ducking back upstairs. Michonne passed Judith her bottle, and walked back out into the hallway where Carl was watching her with curiosity.

"What?" Michonne asked, innocently.

"Nothing" Carl said with a smirk, obviously aware of what was happening in the kitchen.

Rick bounded down the stairs with Michonne's shoes and he got on his knees, allowing her to hold on to his back as she stepped into them. Now, they were ready to go.

When they got to Abraham and Sasha's house, Sasha opened the door wearing a flowery sundress which showed off her rapidly growing baby bump. "Hey guys!" she said happily as the family entered. "Sasha, you're glowing" Rick said, giving her a hug. "Michonne is too" Sasha said with a wink, and Michonne looked at her strangely. "Thanks" Michonne said.

Rick and Michonne were the last ones to arrive, and they quickly made their rounds, greeting everyone. Michonne then sat down next to Maggie who now was 6 months pregnant, and Carol who was sitting next to Daryl. Michonne hadn't gotten to speak with Carol and Daryl for a while. The two of them were rarely out of the house they now shared, except for when they were on watch or Daryl's occasional hunting expedition. Michonne completely understood, she and Rick were the same way when they first got together.

Michonne patted Carol's knee. "How have you been?".

"Great" Carol said with a smile. "I've been great."

"I'm glad" Michonne said softly, "you deserve it"

Everyone talked and ate for a while, until Abraham stood up and clinked a spoon against a beer bottle he'd been drinking. Everyone quieted down and looked at him.

"Sasha and I would like to thank everyone for coming to our little get together. It's been an exciting few months, not just for me and Sasha but for other couples too, and the whole community. When we found out we were gonna be parents, all I could think was 'what the hell did I just do?'". Everyone laughed including Sasha. "But we're both so thankful for what we have, and the new life that we made here, and… well I guess I'll let Sasha say it, c'mere honey".

Abraham reached over and helped Sasha off the couch where she'd been sitting. Sasha took a deep breath and looked at Abraham again before saying "We went to Denise and she told us we're having triplets". A loud gasp spread through the room. Sasha looked down at her belly. "Um… yea, that was the reaction we had too" she laughed, and Abraham held her hand. "When I first found out I was contemplating whether I wanted to kill Abraham". Abraham feinted looking shocked, and moved away from her, but Sasha reached out for his hand again. "As you can imagine, this is a big deal for us and actually terrifying, but we know we'll make it through this, because you're our family, and we know that we have your support." The other guests began nodding their heads in agreement and then cheering.

"Denise said I'll probably have to be on bedrest for the last two months, so if you have any good DVD's please save them for me. And… that's it I guess." Sasha turned to look at Rick. "Um… that's it for us, but there are more announcements."

Abraham nodded at Rick, and Michonne turned to look as Rick stood up from his seat. He cleared his throat. "Um… so firstly, congratulations to you, Sasha and Abraham, and you know our family will always support you whether it be runs to get supplies, babysitting, or just being there. We'll always have your back."

Abraham nodded as he sat down on the couch, pulling Sasha to sit on his lap.

"But… I have two announcements" he said, looking at Michonne, and she gave him a confused stare back. "I'm actually nervous about these announcements, and doing this may have me sleeping on the couch for months, but I'm willing to take the risk because what I have to say I can't hold in any longer."

Rick went to Michonne and pulled her up from the couch as she stared at him bewildered.

"What are you doing Rick?" she asked.

"Michonne, you are the love of my life and the mother of my children. You have saved me physically, mentally, emotionally, in every way possible. I can't live without you, and I wouldn't want to. You are amazing, and beautiful, and the strongest woman I know, and I am so blessed to have you in my life as my partner, and my friend, and my lover… and as my boss." The group watching chuckled at the last comment and Michonne just stared into Rick's eyes with her eyes wide.

"But there's one thing that's missing", Rick kneeled down and pulled out a ring, holding Michonne's hand in his. "Will you be my wife?"

Michonne let out a gasp and the rest of the family began to hoot and cheer. Rick looked up at her, not knowing if asking her in front of everyone else was a good idea. Michonne just stared at Rick as if she were in shock. "Well?" he whispered, kissing her hand. "Y-Yes" she sputtered.

Rick slid the ring on her finger and leaped up, kissing her. Carl jumped up from his seat and also came over to hug both Rick and Michonne. "Wait!" Rick said as everyone started to make their way over to congratulate them. "Wait, there's more."

Rick turned to Michonne, wiping a tear from her eyes. "I know you said you weren't ready to know, but I can't go one more day without sharing this with you. Michonne, we're going to have a baby."

Michonne's jaw dropped and a cry escaped her throat. She threw her arms around Rick's neck and sobbed into his shoulder as he rubbed her back. "Really?" she cried. "Yes sweetheart. We did it, I've been so happy all week, and I couldn't hide it anymore. Are you mad I told you like this?"

Michonne pulled back from him so she could look in his eyes. "Yes! I'm mad you told me in front of everyone. But the first announcement made up for it" she said, and then she kissed him. The guests all cheered, and then everyone got up to congratulate Abraham and Sasha, and Rick and Michonne.

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3 years later

Maggie, Sasha, Carol and Michonne sat at a picnic table at the open area in the middle of Alexandria. It was a sunny, warm day and they decided to have their monthly 'ladies' afternoon out' outdoors today. They drank apple cider which Eugene had figured out how to make using the apple trees from the Orchard.

"Judy is growing like a weed" Carol said, glancing over at the group of children who played nearby. "She's getting so tall".

"I know" Michonne agreed, "She's grown out of her clothes twice in the past 6 months, we're gonna need another children's clothes run. But her old stuff I'm saving for Alisa and Allie" Michonne said, turning to Sasha.

"Thanks" Sasha said, "I need all the clothes I can get. Between the stains and the rips in their shirt and pants, I'm patching the clothes even more than I'm washing them. And Abe alone makes twice as much of a mess than the girls."

The women turned to look at Sasha's son Abe, a boisterous red headed boy, who was rolling down a hill with Maggie's son Hershel, who was thin with raven black hair.

"If we find some fabric in a Walmart or something, I can make new clothes for them. I already made some new shirts for Rick and Carl." Michonne said, taking a drink of her apple cider.

"Yea I saw those" Carol said, "They were really nice. Who knew we had a seamstress in our midst?"

Michonne laughed. "I used to make my own clothes in high school, and in college my suitemates would pay me to make sundresses for them. I even used to make outfits for Andre. Just tell me what you need, children's clothes aren't hard."

"Oh gosh, please!" Sasha begged, "Do you make socks too? Allie loses hers at any and every opportunity."

"Well I think I know what I'm going to give her for her birthday!" Michonne chuckled.

They looked up to see Judy escorting the youngest child in the group, Maxwell, over to Michonne. "Mommy, Max was crying, I think he got a cut." Judy said, showing Michonne her brother's hand.

Michonne reached out and picked Max up, setting him on her lap. "What happened Maxie?" Michonne cooed. He picked up his hand to show Michonne a small cut on one of his fingers. "Do you want mommy to kiss it?" she asked.

He nodded, staring at her curiously as she bent over and kissed his finger. "Feel better?" she asked, rubbing his curly hair.

He nodded and gave her a hug. "Judy tell the others to come over, it's time to eat lunch".

Judy nodded and ran off to wrangle the other children and bring them back to eat. Soon, the women were joined by the triplets Allie, Alisa, and Abe, Hershel, and Judy, as Maxwell sat on his mother's lap. Maggie passed around a towel and all of the children wiped their hands off as there was no running water nearby. "What I wouldn't do for some hand sanitizer" Maggie said under her breath, as the dirty towel was returned to her. The women passed out sandwiches and the children ate ravenously, desperate to return to their games. As soon as they finished their sandwiches the children hopped up and ran off, leaving Maxwell as the only child left at the table. He sleepily clung to Michonne until he fell asleep on her lap.

Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Abraham made their way over to the picnic tables. "Hey ladies" Glenn said, sidling his way up to Maggie and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Where are you guys off to?" Michonne asked, and Rick kissed her cheek and smoothed down Maxwell's curly hair.

"'bout to go on a run" Rick said, "real quick, we need some building materials for the wall extension."

"While you're out, the kids need more clothes. And if you see any sewing materials or cloth, Michonne is gonna make some outfits for the kids." Sasha said to Abraham.

"We can make a run three towns over. I know there's a shopping center we went to when we first got here. We've gotten clothes from there before, but I don't think we've ever searched for children's clothes." Abraham suggested.

"Yea let's do it" Daryl said, "ain't gon' hurt to look"

"Let's do it" Rick repeated, "gentlemen's afternoon out?"

 _ **This is the last chapter of this story! Thanks for reading and please lead a review!**_


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